Music of the Mind
by Raye Lynne
Summary: The team "Limitless" is sent to capture a rogue Fighter known only as Shadowless, and bring her back to the Seven Voices Academy. But Shadowless has the ability to sing her spells, increasing their power and presenting Limitless with a major challenge!
1. Chapter 1: Speechless

Chapter One – Speechless

The long blades of dry, sparse grass ripples as the wind gently swept its colourless tendrils between the stalks, and it crackled lightly beneath our feet. I watched as our twin shadows stretched far beyond us, like dark paths of which we could never reach the end.

I looked over at Kaze. Her short, feathery, white-blonde hair appeared streaked with the orange of the sunset, and the slightly longer layers of vivid purple underneath were not unlike the clouds that had gathered on the western horizon. Her petite, wiry frame was tensed; her pale, fur-covered ears lay flat against the top of her head.

Running my eyes along the flat line where golden land met golden sky, I murmured, "So this is where we'll see…if the rumours are true."

The rays of the fading sun flashed off the lenses of Kaze's wire-rimmed glasses, and the six piercings that she wore in each of her human ears, as she turned to look at me.

"I think the Academy had established this as more than 'rumours'," she replied, her tone precise and businesslike. "We are their elite team; they wouldn't send us to investigate something that likely wasn't true."

"I should have said 'accurate' instead," I amended. "A lone Fighter Unit with this supposed amount of strength is unheard of, and yet – "

"The possibility of such a thing existed seems to have increased since Ritsu-sensei saw fit to send us out here," Kaze finished.

"Exactly."

"And yet –" she faltered, running her hand through her towheaded pixie cut, "it hardly seems possible to be without a Sacrifice and still be so powerful. For me, without you, Jinsei, I don't think I would be anywhere near as strong."

"Nor I without you," I replied. "We complete each other, Kaze. That's the nature of a partnership's bond."

We were silent, then, and the wind started again, ruffling the hem of Kaze's skirt, and tossing pieces of my unruly burgundy hair into my eyes. And we waited.

Suddenly, Kaze's tail twitched, and her ears shot up for a moment before flattening again. "Someone's coming," she hissed.

I raised my own ears and reached out with my senses. Internally, I recoiled at the amount of strength present. But there was something in the power, too, something alien, something I had never before encountered in my ten-years-and-counting of training.

"They're close," I replied. "And they're alone."

Our two pairs of eyes, brilliant green and dark brown, scanned the landscape, on the lookout for our opponent.

"Were you waiting for someone?" The voice behind us bore no hint of amusement, yet it seemed to be mocking us all the same. Kaze and I whirled on the spot, but the newcomer placed one hand on either of our shoulders, vaulting cleanly over us and landing on her feet. There was an odd tingling sensation left behind on the place where her hand had been.

We turned again, and saw our opponent for the first time. She was tall and slender; piercing blue eyes stared out from behind a curtain of blue-black hair that swung just above her shoulders. Her long legs were encased in black pants and knee-high black boots, and her gauzy, wide-sleeved white shirt fluttered in the wind. Her long tail flicked back and forth as she regarded us with a gaze that was neither fearful nor hostile, simply curious. A blue diamond glittered in one of her pointed black ears.

Both Kaze and I could sense the power that seemed to radiate from her. I was surprised that she had been able to cloak her presence so effectively.

Kaze rolled up the sleeves of her hooded cargo jacket, and I pushed mine back as well. On Kaze's right wrist, above a dozen bracelets of braided string, was our name. It was in the same place, on my opposite hand. Crossing our forearms and clenching our fists, we thus revealed out name.

"We are Limitless," Kaze intoned. "We are not restricted by any boundaries, including the expectations of others."

Accepting this information with a nod, the stranger replied, "My name is Shadowless. I walk alone; no one with my abilities should be capable of existing in a physical manifestation." Her voice had a chilling, resonating quality, and the smile at the end of her statement possessed a combination of bitterness and pride that made my ears prickle.

"Which of you," she said suddenly, "is the Sacrifice?"

"He is," said Kaze, gesturing at me. Shadowless' gaze settled on me, a relentless stare, unblinking and unnerving.

"I thought so," she replied, without taking her eyes off of me. Even when Kaze started speaking again, they lingered a long moment before sliding back over.

"We represent the Seven Voices Academy," Kaze was saying.

Shadowless' face darkened. "I've heard of them."

"You have two choices now," said Kaze. "Our sensei cannot allow a rogue Fighter to remain outside of his control. You can either come with us now –"

Shadowless stiffened, and it occurred to me that she couldn't be any older than me or Kaze.

"—or we will battle you, and you will be coming with us anyway."

The outsider's expression remained impassive. "I doubt it."

"You will not come willingly?" demanded Kaze.

Now Kaze was fixed with that immobile gaze. "No," Shadowless answered, and the word rang out like a bell across the plain.

"So be it." Kaze reached for my hand at the same instant I reached for hers. We raised our arms, twining fingers.

"We declare a battle by wordspell," stated Kaze.

"I accept," said Shadowless, eyes flashing.

**"Engage systems!"** cried Kaze, and we dropped our hands; Kaze sprang forward, and I fell back a half-step.

**"Engage,"** Shadowless quietly intoned, lowering her head.

"Prepare for anything," I whispered to Kaze. "Ready a deflection spell."

"Got it," she replied, without looking back at me.

Shadowless raised her hands, palms facing outward. But when she opened her mouth, we were far from prepared as to what came out of it.

She was – _singing._

_**"Hear me red flames; answer my cries**_

_**Now, in my song, I command you to rise**_

_**Flare and flicker; unleash your wrath**_

_**Obliterate all that lies in your path."**_

__It was the most captivating thing I had ever heard. Her voice started out low and echoing, then soared into a piercing soprano by the end, the last note held, long and quavering.

_So many syllables…and the rhyming…!_

Even after she ceased to sing, remnants of her voice seemed to hang in the air, echoing…

Shadowless turned her palms outward. A wind stirred, whipping her hair into her face. And the heat…

I snapped out of my trance then. "Kaze!" I cried. "Deflect! Now!"

But, already, two bolt of scarlet flame shot toward us, one on either side of Shadowless' outstretched palms.

Kaze, still a little dazed, called out, **"You are light; I am the mirror; scatter and defle—"**

It was too late; the flames crashed into Kaze in a molten wave. I felt her pain almost before impact.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh!" I cried, falling to my knees. I couldn't help myself. We'd been trained never to show our pain, but this was like nothing I'd ever experienced before. Every part of me burned with white-hot agony.

"Jinsei!" cried Kaze, running to my side. "Jinsei, are you all right?"

"I'm fine," I gasped. "I'll be fine." The pain was already receding, except for bands around my wrists, ankles, and throat, where thick restrictions had appeared. I pulled myself to my feet, and the chains jangled.

"You'll pay for that," Kaze promised.

"I don't want this any more than you do," Shadowless replied. "Just let me go."

"Never!"

Shadowless narrowed her eyes. "Very well, then."

Kaze turned to me. "Are you ready, Jinsei?"

I nodded. "Attack."

**"Forces of gravity, divide!" **yelled Kaze. **"Let your separate pulls rip, rive, rend!"**

Almost lazily, Shadowless sang a single, high-pitched chord: _**"Shield." **_A ball of blue-white energy formed around her. Kaze's attack pulled it into a misshapen ellipsoid, but the defense held firm.

**"Compress the atmosphere!" **Kaze cried. **"Compact, crush!"**

Shadowless' words could not be heard from within her shield, but the sphere started to expand, pressing against Kaze's spell.

I could only watch, whispering encouragement, as Kaze struggled to maintain the pressure surrounding our adversary. With a gasp, her strength gave out, and she stumbled. A strap appeared, encircling my upper arms, crushing my ribcage like a vise.

With nothing to contain it, Shadowless' shield swelled drastically, then burst with a small explosion, sending the raven-haired girl sprawling. When she stood up again, there were restrictions around her ankles, but they were only string, and she reached down and snapped them easily.

Kaze looked back at me, helplessly. "I'm sorry," she said. "I pushed myself too far."

"Don't apologize," I ordered. "Just focus. Keep attacking. Try a new strategy – try to reduce her strength in increments, instead of all at once."

Kaze nodded. **"Ice! Freeze around joints! Inhibit! Weaken!"**

Shadowless simply sang herself another barrier.

"What are you doing?" Kaze hollered. "Why aren't you fighting back?"

"I don't want to cause any more damage than necessary." She was staring at me again. "Can't you see your plight is futile? You cannot hope to defeat me in wordspell."

"That's what you think," Kaze hissed. **"Earth! Crack and shatter; shiver; a roiling sea of stone!"**

It appeared to me that Shadowless was almost reluctant to retaliate, but she was more reluctant to be captured…

_**"Preserve and protect,**_

_**Diverge and deflect."**_

__The cracks that had appeared in the earth ceased their spread towards Shadowless, and instead curved around her and back at Kaze, too fast for her to react. A jagged section of rock burst up at her feet, sending her flying backwards. She landed on her side, striking her head.

"Kaze!" I yelled, even through my own pain. My legs were now completely bound, in a tangle of straps and chains. With a groan, Kaze picked herself up off the ground. My stomach lurched – she had a chain around her neck, too.

Shadowless started, "Are you sure you wouldn't rather --?"

"Shut – _up!_" choked Kaze. "I am – going – to finish you! **Blades of wind!" **she screamed. **"Swirl and surround; spin and slice! Scratch! Sever! ATTACK!!" **She whipped her arms out in front of her, loosing a blast of energy, pouring all her reserves of power into it. I reached out across our bond with my mind, lending what remained of my own strength.

Shadowless raised her hands, a defensive song on her lips, but Kaze's ingenious use of alliteration had increased the velocity of our attack, and it proved too fast for her. Shadowless cried out as hundreds of unseen knives bit into her skin.

Our strength ran out, and we watched as Shadowless crouched in the dirt, on all fours, gasping for breath. Slowly, she rose, and it was obvious she was in pain. Her flowing white shirt had been shredded, and it was marred with widening streaks of red. Her hands had taken the worst of it, but her face and neck had their share of thin scratches as well. Red droplets beaded along a slash across her cheekbone. But, most importantly –

-- she was restricted; strong leather cuffs were clamped around her wrists.

"Yes!" breathed Kaze. To Shadowless, she called, "I told you – we are not giving up. It takes more than a few flames and a rock to keep us down!"

Shaking her head, Shadowless wiped to blood off her face. "You don't get it, do you? I will do whatever it takes to not have anything to do with your Academy – after I finish with you, that is."

"You're going to have a bit of a hard time," Kaze pointed out. "Those restrictions are hurting you five times more than they should be, because you don't have a Sacrifice to take the damage."

"I don't need a Sacrifice to be able to stay away from you and your people," Shadowless spat, showing a hint of anger for the first time. Then abruptly, she calmed, and a mysterious smile took hold of her face.

"I'll explain it to you, then, shall I? Whenever light is present, no matter where you are – downtown, in your bedroom – or on a grassy plain – there are always shadows. Light and dark, co-existing, but on separate planes. The border between the two is so easy to discern; they are clearly still two separate entities. But, what if you were to have light and dark, living side by side in that they share every particle? There would be no room for shadows, would there? You would have something –" her smile widened – "shadowless. It is my job – to keep the world shadowless."

She paused for a moment, letting her words sink in. Then she began to sing, her voice a rapid-fire of words; I strained to hear what she was saying.

Her voice was truly beautiful. Could there only be one person singing? Each syllable contained three notes: one that resonated in mid-alto range, one a clear soprano tone, and the third a trilling descant, so high it was almost inaudible.

"_**Light, connect now with your twin;**_

_**Darkness, join you brethren.**_

_**Finish what we have begun,**_

_**Combine; let two now become one.**_

_**Form the impossible darkness of light;**_

_**Sear the senses, destroy the sight!"**_

__"Shield, Kaze!" I commanded. But, even as the words left my mouth, I knew it was too late.

Kaze doubled over, moaning; an instant later, I was hit, too.

It is impossible to describe the sensation of unfiltered light and pure darkness assailing your senses simultaneously. This attack was a quandary: the rarest, most difficult, and most powerful of all wordspells.

The overwhelming shock to my senses was too much. "Rrrrrrrrrrrrrrgh," I gasped, trying not to yell again.

Then it was over. But I could not move. I could not so much as twitch a finger.

I was fully restricted.

Limitless had – lost.

I heard Shadowless whisper, **"Systems off." **The restrictions vanished, but the aching and exhaustion did not.

I didn't remember falling, but the sharp, dry grass now prickled my face. Lifting my head weakly, I saw Kaze lying a few feet away, unconscious. Black spots danced in front of my eyes, and I knew I would soon succumb as well.

There were footsteps near me, and I looked up to see Shadowless. She crouched down by my side.

"You fought well," she said, smiling. "I'm so happy to have finally met you…Jinsei." Then she reached over, tucking a strand of my hair behind my ear. Her fingertips brushed my cheek; again, there was that odd, but not unpleasant tingling sensation where she touched me, like an electric current.

She stood up then.

"Wait –" I rasped.

She winked. "Give your sensei my regrets."

Before I lost consciousness, I watched as Shadowless disappeared into the deepening blue of the night. __

A/N: Disclaimer: I do not, repeat, do not own: Loveless, The Seven Voices Academy, Ritsu-sensei, or the wordspell battles. However, I do own: Shadowless, Jinsei, Kaze, "songspells", and the rules that I have added to the wordspell battles (alliteration and quandaries). They are mine! Please don't steal them…

This is my fourth fanfic, but my first one for "Loveless". Let me know what you think!

~Raye Lynne


	2. Chapter 2: Pointless

Chapter Two – Pointless

"Miyamoto-kun? Hirokoshi-kun?"

Kaze and I stood up, myself with somewhat more difficulty. "Yes, Akio-senpai?"

"Minami-sensei will see you now," she said.

"Thank you, senpai," I replied, and we walked through the open door to Ritsu-sensei's office.

Inside, it was airy and spacious, with an array of potted plants. Through the eight-foot windows in the far wall, I could see the starts glittering in a sky of blue velvet. Could it really be the same sky under which we had fought and lost? It seemed impossible, and yet, here we were.

Ritsu-sensei swiveled in his desk chair to face us. He regarded me and Kaze with a cool, appraising gaze, and his eyes narrowed slightly when he took in our injuries. Kaze's head was swathed in a strip of bandages, and I had more squares of gauze taped to my skin than I cared to count. Already, bruises were beginning their dark spread over both of our skins.

"From the evident lack of a third party, I would venture to assume that you did not succeed in your assignment." His voice was humourless and cutting, and his mouth was a straight, hard line of disapproval.

I tore my eyes away and looked at the floor. "No, sensei."

He sighed. "I suppose you ought to explain yourselves." He shook his head slightly. "'Limitless'. My elite team. And yet, you've failed."

I felt Kaze flinch; I knew the word 'failed' stung her like a whip, and I felt no better.

"It was as you thought, sensei," I said. "The Fighter…she travels alone, and she is indeed powerful."

"She _sings_ her attacks," Kaze jumped in. "She fights in _song_spell, not wordspell."

Ritsu-sensei nodded, with a glimmer of intrigue in his eye. "Continue."

"Her spells contain a strength of which we have never seen an equal," I elaborated. "It would appear that her ability to sing her attacks not only increases their power, but also their velocity, effectiveness, and variety. She can sing thirty syllables without any apparent effort, and most of her stacks rhyme, which would appear to be beneficial as well."

"Interesting…and what of her bond? Does she have a Sacrifice?"

"We were unable to detect a bond of any sort – not even a broken one."

"Interesting," said Ritsu-sensei again. "Knowing all of this only increases the necessity of having this stranger under the wing of Seven Voices."

"She calls herself 'Shadowless'," I blurted, on an impulse.

"'Shadowless'? What a ridiculous name…but it doesn't matter what she calls herself; she is untamed and dangerous. I will not rest until I have her contained within the walls of this Academy." Until this point, he had been talking more to himself than us, staring out the window, with his chin resting on his fingertips. Now, he addressed us directly. "I shall require some time to consider our next move. In the meantime, take a day or two to recover, then recommence your intensive training, and be prepared to be called upon at any time."

My heart leapt, and Kaze cried, "You mean you're keeping us on the mission, sensei?"

"Of course." He seemed amused at out surprise. "Now that you've fought this 'Shadowless' once, you'll be prepared for the next time, and there will be no excuse for a loss." His words held both encouragement and warning. "Do you understand?"

"Yes, sensei," we both responded.

"Thank you, sensei," Kaze added.

Ritsu-sensei accepted this, nodding, and we were thus dismissed.

-----

Aside from the fact that our dormitory was larger than all the other team's rooms, it was more or less the same – boxy, with a low ceiling, and sparsely furnished. The only other difference was that there were two futons, not just one.

At sixteen, out of all the partnerships, Kaze and I were probably the oldest pair to still have our ears. It wasn't unusual to encounter an earless team who had had their ears only the night before, not around here. No one made a big deal about, not even the adults. There was no discrimination against a pair of two members of the same gender, not like in the outside world. Two guys, two girls, or one of each; it didn't matter; sex was just a way of strengthening a team's bond. This explained the apathy of the senpais and senseis… actually, I suspected that they encouraged it.

Kaze and I – well – I thought about it, sometimes, and I know she did, too. But we never spoke of it. Kaze was my partner, and I couldn't bear the thought of being separated from her. But, from when I'd talked to some of my fellow students, they'd described a feeling of constant need to be further connected to their partners.

I didn't think I felt that need. Kaze was everything to me. But neither of us was in any hurry to lose their ears to the other.

-----

We were summoned back to Ritsu-sensei before a week had passed.

"The stray Fighter has been detected a few more times. We know she is in the city, as opposed to circling the outskirts, and she is active both nights and days now. You are to go into the city and stay there, keeping tabs on her. At the first opportunity, bring her back here."

"Yes, sensei."

"I've arranged an apartment for you to stay in. As well," he smiled slightly, "I've enrolled you both in high school."

"What?" blurted Kaze.

"Might we -- ask why, sensei?" I rephrased.

"I realize it's inconvenient, but two teenagers who roam the city, yet are never seen in any school are bound to attract attention. And the idea here is to stay hidden. You will be just in time to start the autumn semester of eleventh year. I'm sure, if something comes up, you'll know how to handle yourselves. Of course, your presence must be cloaked at all time. In this way, you can take your targets by surprise, Seven Voices will have itself this Fighting phenomenon."

"Shadowless," I reminded him. It just seemed important, somehow.

Ritsu-sensei raised one eyebrow. "It really doesn't matter what her name is -- whether that is her true name, or simply what she calls herself, it is irrelevant. I'll be changing it, either way."

Kaze gasped, and I couldn't suppress a shiver. The concept of one's name -- their identity, the representation f their souls -- being stripped away and altered against one's will -- it was terrifying.

"You would do that, sensei?" I managed to ask. "I mean, it's possible?"

His gaze held something I couldn't distinguish. "You would be surprised at what is possible, Hirokoshi-kun."

-------

Kaze and I stood, side by side, at the front entrance of Miramatsu Secondary School.

"So..." she said.

"So..." I said. "School."

--------

Walking down the hall alone, I ran my eyes down the rows of doors on either side of me.

_Room 4b...4b..._

To my surprise, when we'd consulted with the administrative staff, they'd separated me and Kaze, and sent us off to different classes -- gym for her, art for me -- arming us only with a printout of our schedule and a map of the school.

_...4b..._

I hadn't been separated from Kaze since we'd first met...

_That's 2c! Where's 4b?_

I could still sense her presence, though, just outside the school...on the field, I guessed.

_Did I walk past it already?_

The second I craned my neck to look back was the same second in which I walked into someone at full force.

I was knocked to the ground and had to roll to avoid falling books, pencil cases, and paint brushes. When the chaos was over, I looked up to see a girl of about my age, already picking herself up off the ground and gathering her things.

"I - I'm sorry," I said, getting up to help. "I wasn't looking where I was going."

She laughed. "That's okay. It was my fault, too. I have way too much stuff...I overbalanced!"

With both of us standing, I could see that she was only about six inches shorter than me, and slightly built. Her hair was cut into choppy black layers and streaked with brilliant shades of fuchsia, turquoise, and chartreuse. She wore a striped long-sleeved shirt under a vibrant yellow sundress, with a denim jacket over that, with the sleeves rolled up to show off the shirt's purple-and-white bands, the same colours as her close-toed slip-on shoes. A string of huge teal beads hung from her neck, and multicoloured feathered earring swung from her ears. She brushed her bangs off her forehead, revealing sparkling blue eyes.

The whole effect was so vivid, I had to blink. It reminded me a little of Kaze, only she didn't usually wear quite so many colours at once.

She wasn't staring at my ears. Was that because she still had hers, too? Or maybe it wasn't weird to have your ears when you were sixteen, when you were in high school.

We'd each gathered an armful of her belongings, and I hesitated. She was already carrying too many things, I was holding at least as much as she was.

I asked, "Do you want some help with these?"

"Aren't you late for class? You should go."

"It's fine. Really. I can't find the right room, anyway," I admitted. "I'm new here."

The girl brightened. "Me, too! I just started, so I don't know my way around very well yet, or I'd give you directions."

"That's okay." Readjusting my grip on the books, I asked, "What's your class?"

"4b…art."

"Mine, too!"

"Weird," replied the girl. "Well, if I know one thing, it's that you were going the wrong way. It's back down this hall, then a right, and a left, then it's the first door, on your left, again." She paused. 'I'm Hiwatari Sakura, by the way."

"Hirokoshi Jinsei."

"Well, it was a pleasure to bump into you, Hirokoshi-san," she said formally, but she was smiling.

"I can say the same for you, Hiwatari-san," I replied in kind. The words, though unlike any I was used to speaking, came easily. Something in me was set free by Sakura's presence, and I knew that some of the rules could afford to bend a little.

Sakura laughed again. It was a pleasant sound – warm and vibrant and alive with a myriad of colours.

_I think – I think I've just made a friend._

_-------_

After a few still-life sketches in art, I had a spare class. I used the time to familiarize myself with the layout of the school, and I was able to make it to math on time.

Then it was lunchtime, and I reeled as I tried to push my way through the crowd as every student in the school flooded the hallways.

Reaching out with my mind, I found Kaze, sitting out under a tree by the field. I made my way out the doors and around the side of the school.

I sat down next to her, and she looked up. "Thank god you're here," she said. "This place is a freak show."

"It's not so bad," I replied, thinking of Sakura. We hadn't been allowed to talk in art class, but I'd marveled at the way her eyes were riveted on her paper, and the smooth, sure stroke of her hand as she guided the pencil to form the outline of the vase we'd had to sketch.

Kaze raised an eyebrow. "Are you crazy? The things they teach you here – it's pointless! What do you really need gym for, anyway? And I have to take _sewing."_

"What's wrong with that?"

"It's a waste of time. This whole 'school' thing is a waste of time. And there are so many people here." She lowered her voice. "It makes me nervous."

"Why? We have nothing to hide."

"'Nothing to—' have you lost your mind? We have everything to hide. Everything we are, everything we represent – it's not supposed to exist."

"I know." I paused for a moment. "But, it's not as though anyone's going to declare a wordspell battle against us here – anyone who could is at Seven Voices."

"Except for—"

"Shadowless. Yeah, I know."

And then the bell rang, summoning us back.

I had gym, then I went to chemistry – finally, a class with Kaze in it as well – and finished the day with world history.

I sat down, and the bell was just ringing when Sakura walked in. She met my eyes and smiled, then came to sit down next to me.

After class, we were walking back down the hall together, until we reached a branch in the passage.

"My locker's down here," she said, tilting her head in gesture – her arms were full again, this time with textbooks. "See you tomorrow, Hirokoshi-kun."

About three steps later, I met up with Kaze.

"Who was that?" she asked.

"She's in my history and art classes," I explained. "Her name is Hiwatari Sakura."

Kaze shook her head, and I knew she was angry – but why, that was a mystery. She turned and stalked away.

"Kaze, wait up!" I cried. I chased after her and stopped by her side, but she didn't acknowledge me, and walked faster. She was two steps ahead of me the whole way back to our apartment.

-----

Kaze didn't say a word until we were both inside the apartment and I had closed the door. Then she whirled on me and hissed, "You are an idiot, Jinsei!"

"I don't understand; what---?"

"You can't go making friends here," Kaze moaned, as though she had to explain something extremely obvious to someone particularly dense. "We will only be here until we find and capture Shadowless, and that will be, what, a few days? A couple of weeks, _maybe?_ After that, we have to disappear; we have to back to the Academy, and friends will get impatient and ask questions and follow you around. They will interfere and poke and prod and meddle until all your secrets are out there in the open! Is that what you want?"

I sighed. "Of course not."

"Then you have to stay away from her."

"But it would be helpful to have someone to –"

"You'll still have me, Jinsei," said Kaze, sounding a little hurt. "Your partner. Your Fighter. Isn't that enough?"

I knew, in my heart, that it should be.

But it wasn't.

------

There was only one bedroom in the apartment, and it was tiny. So I slept on the couch in the living. The walls were deep grey in the absence of light, save that which came in, from the city lights, through the set of sliding glass doors. The doors, covered by pale, floating drapes, led out to a small wrought-iron balcony that overlooked a brush-covered ravine in the foreground, then further out, the heart of Tokyo.

I lay awake, unable to close my eyes. My thoughts were a blizzard of confusion.

Being here, away from the Academy – it felt so – so _right. _There was a kind of freedom I had never known. It was both beautiful – and terrifying.

Kaze – she wouldn't understand. I could tell from the way she'd acted today that her thoughts were absorbed with the mission, and nothing else. I knew that our success required the same from me.

_Stay focused._

It was hard, though. Harder than I thought it should be.

Just then, from somewhere on the other side of the city, I detected a faint burst of energy. It lasted less than a quarter of a second, not even long enough for me to determine its precise location.

But I still recognized it as Shadowless.

The burst was exactly like the one that Ritsu-sensei had described to us – one of several that occurred randomly. It was likely a renewal of a presence-cloaking spell, where the old spell was completely lifted for a brief instant before the new one took effect.

But it was proof that she was here, and that was all I needed to re-affirm my resolve.

I fell asleep.


	3. Chapter 3: Careless

Chapter Three—Careless

I understood that I couldn't get close to Sakura; Kaze was right: she wouldn't respond well when I would have to disappear later.

That didn't mean I _wanted _to ignore her, though.

In art the next day, the sensei instructed that we would be doing portraits of our classmates that day.

"Any medium you choose," she said, "so long as it appears realistic on your canvas."

Then she started pairing us up, alphabetically. I knew who my partner was going to be long before she said it.

"Hirokoshi Jinsei and Hiwatari Sakura."

I sighed, and resigned myself to being yelled at later by Kaze.

_That doesn't mean I can't enjoy myself now, though._

"Hi!" said Sakura, pulling her easel a little closer to mine. "Can I call you Jinsei?"

Startled by the abruptness of her question, I could only respond with a, "What?"

"Sorry…I know we just met. I just think 'Jinsei' suits you better than 'Hirokoshi-kun'. And I am a firm believer that names should be an accurate representation of what is being named."

"Yes…yes, I agree. Actually, I feel exactly the same way." As a member of a wordspell team, I had to. "Yes, you can call me Jinsei."

"Great. And you can call me Sakura. In fact, I insist. I hate my last name." She made a face. "It's too cute-sy."

_Sakura. _I moved my tongue to form the syllables – the gentle hissing of the _s, _the soft click of the _k _on the roof of my mouth, and flicking of the tip of my tongue off the backs of my teeth for the _r_.

"Okay – Sa-ku-ra." I smiled…it felt good to say.

"Do you want to go first?"

"First for what?"

"Do you want to draw me first, or should I draw you?"

"Oh…it doesn't matter."

"It doesn't matter to me, either."

"Okay…well, I guess I'll go first, then."

"What medium will you use?"

"Uh…" Since we'd enrolled late, Kaze and I had been stuck with whatever classes were left, so we weren't exactly equipped with all the necessary supplies. All I had were a few pencils, and that was not going to cut it. Sakura had on a magenta shirtdress, iridescent silver legging tucked into brown suede boots, a long silver necklace with a leaf-shaped pendant, beaded chandelier earrings, half a dozen painted wooden bracelets on each arm, and a big pink flower in her hair. How could I capture something like that in shades of grey?

"Well – ah – ideally, I would probably say…acrylics. I don't have any, though."

"No worries, you can borrow mine," said Sakura, pushing a boxful over. "So, do you want me sitting? Standing? Lying down? Jumping in circles?"

"I don't know – whatever feels natural, I guess. Just – please – no jumping."

"Darn." Sakura smiled. "Okay, then, how about this?" She leaned across the table, resting one hand under her chin, tilting her face up a little, her long black tail curled playfully.

I studied her. "Turn your face a little more towards me – okay." Reaching into the box, I pulled out a medium-width brush, and a few tubes of paint. All at once, I became overwhelmed. "This is going to be hard. I'm not much of an artist."

"Everyone is an artist," said Sakura matter-of-factly. "In some way, shape, form, or degree, that includes you. Just let your eyes guide your hand; paint what you see. Relax. Deep inside you, you already know what you are doing. Trust yourself."

"Okay." I took a deep breath and one final look at Sakura, then began.

The colours flowed from my brush in liquid streams. I surprised myself with how fluid and deft my movements were.

At one point, Sakura unconsciously reached up and pushed her hair behind her ears.

"Hey, don't," I said. "I like it framing your face like that. I mean – it's easier to paint."

"As you wish – Master," she laughed.

I laughed, too.

She gave her head a slight shake, and her hair tumbled free once more.

Before an hour had passed, I had conveyed a reasonably good of Sakura onto the canvas.

"Okay, come look," I said. "But don't laugh."

"I would never!" cried Sakura, and she seemed genuinely shocked that I would even consider the possibility. She stood up straight and walked around to my easel scrutinizing my efforts.

"It looks a lot like me…you got the eyes right; you can see a lot of character there." She sounded pleased. "That's what's most important about a face; the eyes are the window to the soul."

She continued, "The textures and folds of the clothes could use a little more definition, but that's not really important for right now. What you really need –" she picked up a super-fine brush and dipped it in the white "—is more differentiation between your lights and your darks." She lifted the brush a traced a thin, steady line across the angular jawline of her painted self. The white blended immediately with the still-wet flesh tone, and added a whole new dimension to the painting, with that one simple line. Another similar tracing down the nose, and the face seemed lit up from within.

"And the hair looks a little flat –" she was already mixing a very pale blue and painting it over the black. A few strokes of her brush, and it was blended. The painted hair seemed to shimmer, and the whole piece seemed to come alive.

"That's amazing." I said. "How do you do that?"

"I've always been good at visualizing things – I just have to create what I see in my mind." She smiled. "Besides, this was almost all you. I only had to add a couple of things."

"But the difference they made was incredible."

"Of course," she replied, seeming surprised again. "Every detail is critical. Okay – the clothes, we can fix next class. Now," she grinned, "it's my turn."

I glanced at the clock. "There's hardly any time left."

"That's okay. I can still get a good start. Stand up."

I complied. "What do you want me to do?"

"Just stand there."

"What about my expression?"

"Neutral. Trust me." She regarded me for a minute or so, tapping her foot slowly. "I think…yes, charcoal. Definitely charcoal."

She pulled out a tray and selected a long, fresh piece. Then she started to draw. I could not see her hands, but I could hear the light, brittle scraping as the charcoal was guided along the canvas. Every so often, she peered around the side of the easel to look at me again.

The bell rang. "Did you finish?" I asked.

"No, but I'll work on it later." She started gathering her things.

"Do you need help?"

"Nope." She pulled a black satchel embroidered with white flowers out from under the table, grinning. "I'm learning," she said as she started putting her things into it.

"I guess I'll see you last period, then."

"Sounds good to me," Sakura replied, smiling again.

She smiled a lot, it seemed to me. But, every time she did, she shone brighter than any painted colours could capture.

-----

I walked up to Kaze, who was sitting under the tree again. "Hi."

She glanced up. "Hi." Both of us thought it best not to acknowledge the awkward exchange of the night before.

"I need to get out of here soon, or I'm going to lose it," said Kaze.

"It's only our second day," I reminded her. "Give it time."

"You make it sound like you plan on being here for a while."

"Of course not. I just think that, as long as we have to be here, we might as well keep an open mi—"

I broke off as I detected the energy burst.

"Did you feel that?" I asked Kaze in a whisper.

"Yes," she replied, barely audible. "It was really, really near to us. I think – she's in the school."

"Close," a voice laughed.

Kaze and I turned our heads to see Shadowless sitting on the grass not six feet from us. We leapt to our feet, but she remained motionless. It was easy to know why. With all the students and teachers around, we could to nothing.

"What are you doing here?" hissed Kaze. "What do you want? Come to gloat?"

Rising leisurely, Shadowless replied, "Of course not. I just wanted you to know that the 'hiding in plain sight' strategy isn't working. Just so you don't waste your time. Since you hate it here so much, I mean."

No one looked at us twice throughout this entire exchange. Shadowless had traded her theatrical gauze tunic and high-heeled boots for shredded jeans and a black leather jacket. Most of her hair was tied back in a ponytail, but the shorter layers in the front trailed along the edge of her jawline, and they glowed with cobalt blue highlights where the sun hit them. To everyone around us, she was normal. Not something to worry about. Not a fear. Not a danger. Not a threat.

"Go back to Seven Voices," she said. She spoke in a low voice so her words wouldn't carry, but they rang loudly and clearly with meaning. "Leave me alone. You don't realize what you're doing."

"I know what I'm about to do," Kaze snapped. She reached over and grabbed my hand – the way she only did when we were about to instigate a wordspell battle.

"No, Kaze –" I started.

She ignored me.

In any other team, the Fighter Unit would have immediately obeyed an order from his or her Sacrifice. But Kaze would not.

Shadowless remained unruffled. "Do you really want to do that?" she asked pleasantly. "That would be fine by me. _I _have nothing to lose in revealing myself as a Fighter. But if you uncovered your secret, in front of all these people—" she swept an arm out around her, pointing out all the students and staff who were waling by, oblivious-- for now "—you will be betraying not only yourselves, but your entire Academy. Are you really willing to destroy everything just to capture me?" Her words made it sound like a question, but, when I looked in her eyes, I could tell she already knew the answer. As did we.

Kaze's eyes were spitting with fiery rage. Practically throwing my hand back at me, she ordered, her voice trembling with fury, "Get out of here."

"So you can track me down as soon as the senseis' backs are turned?" inquired Shadowless, smirking slightly. "Not a chance. I'll stay…right here." And she sat back down again, her unbreakable gaze challenging, almost taunting.

The bell rang. Students surged passed us, and a teacher came by and said, "All right, off to class, you three."

'I have a spare class," said Shadowless sweetly.

"Okay, then. You and you, let's get going," he said to me and Kaze.

We had no choice but to go – we would be sure to be caught of we lied. We walked away with the sensei.

"Don't be late," called Shadowless in a sing-song way.

Kaze clenched her fists with frustration, and I felt an unpleasant simmering heat deep within my stomach.

-------

"Are you okay?" asked Sakura in history class. "You seem kind of tense."

"Oh, I've got a huge math test tomorrow and I'm not ready," I lied.

"Already? That's harsh," said Sakura.

"Yes, well, it's all review from the spring semester," I elaborated, so as to be more convincing. "But I have no idea if it's going to match what I learned at my old school."

Sakura grimaced in sympathy. "Yuck. I'm sure you'll do fine, though. Where did you go to school before?"

"I went to private school in Osaka." The bitter taste of guilt remained on my tongue as the lies passed through my lips. "But my parents died in the summer."

My parents probably were dead. I had never known them. I vaguely remembered a couple of different foster homes before being handed over to Seven Voices. When I got there, I had met my match – Kaze. Even before our name had appeared, they'd told us that she belonged to me.

"That's terrible," said Sakura softly. "I'm so sorry to hear that."

I felt bad for upsetting her, so I tried to shrug things off. "It's no big deal, really. We were never close. I live with my friend Kaze now, and we go to school here."

Kaze had told me her story not long after we'd met. Her mother had walked out months before, leaving Kaze alone with her alcoholic father. Though she was only six, she'd run away from home. She didn't make it very far before she was picked up off the streets by one of the Seven Voices senpais.

"Still," said Sakura, "it must have been such a shock."

"Yeah, it was," I said, cringing inwardly. "But I'm—"

"Hirokoshi-kun!" called the sensei. "In the First World War, what three countries formed the Triple Entente?"

"Um—I, uh—"

"Russia, France, and Britain," whispered Sakura.

"Hiwatari-kun, I wasn't asking you," reprimanded the sensei. "Now, both of you, pay attention!"

-----

"The _nerve_ of her!" yelled Kaze, after we'd walked into our apartment. She'd been tight-lipped and white-knuckled all throughout chemistry class, and I knew she'd been dying to yell those words for hours.

"Who does she think she is?! Just because she beat us once, she thinks she can come back and rub our faces in it?!"

While my feelings were more or less the same as hers, I couldn't forget how she's completely ignored my command. When a Fighter doesn't listen to the Sacrifice and acts on impulse; when there is no synchronization of thoughts and intent, the team is weakened.

As if she'd heard my thoughts, Kaze started in on me, too. "We should have fought! Jinsei, we could have had her! But you were willing to just let her go!"

"Kaze, she was right," I said. "We would have completely exposed Seven Voices if we had tried to capture her then."

She was silent.

"And there was no guaranteeing a victory."

"You don't think we can win?" snapped Kaze. "She just took us by surprise last time! That's all!" She paused, then continued, in a softer voice. "Don't you believe that we can do this? Don't you believe in us?...In me?"

After a pause, I replied, "Of course. We're a team, Kaze. We work together. We stay together. And we will succeed…together."

But I was worried.

Kaze had changed since we'd first encountered Shadowless. She'd become less rational and more impulsive. Less patient, and more emotional. Shadowless had changed her.

Shadowless was tearing us further apart.


	4. Chapter 4: Reckless

Chapter 4 – Reckless

Sakura wasn't in art class the next day.

I had to be going crazy – because it seemed to me that the paints' colours were faded when she wasn't there.

--------

At lunch, Kaze started off ranting about gym class. To be honest, I was only half listening – firstly, we were in top physical condition, so it wasn't a stretch for her. Secondly, I was mulling over the things that Shadowless had said to us.

"_No room for shadows…it is my job to keep the world shadowless."_

"_Leave me alone; you don't realize what you're doing."_

But, most of all:

"_I'm so happy to have finally met you…Jinsei."_

What did it all mean?

Kaze stopped talking and frowned. "Is that…?"

I looked over, and felt a spark of delight—it was Sakura, approaching with a smile and a wave. I waved back; Kaze dropped her scowl, but her gaze was still hostile – and directed at me.

_Damn it._

"Hi, Jinsei," said Sakura. "And you must be Miyamoto-san," she said, turning to Kaze. "It's nice to meet you. I'm Hiwatari Sakura."

'Hi," said Kaze stiffly.

"Where were you this morning?" I asked.

"I take the subway to school – I live on the other side of town – and there was a problem or something, so it was delayed." She brightened. "But I finished the drawing!"

"How? Wasn't it hard to draw me if I wasn't there?"

Sakura smiled and shook her head, sending her hair into a whirl of colours. "I've said it before: I've always been good at visualizing things…people…places…anyway, I have it in here, somewhere." She rummaged through her satchel, pulled out a folder, and began to flip through it.

I knew Kaze's eyes were on her; she was unsure what to make of Sakura's bright, cheerful demeanor, her tetracoloured hair, her bizarre dress – today's costume consisted of a white tank top, a brilliant red necktie, black rhinestone-studded short-shorts held up by bright yellow suspenders, enormous hop earrings, red high-tops, and thigh-high socks striped in every colour of the rainbow.

None of this, though, was reason to dislike her—a wild impulsive thought sprang to my mind: was Kaze _jealous?_

"Here it is!" exclaimed Sakura, drawing a sheet of paper from her portfolio before handing it to me.

I gasped – it was like looking in a mirror. Even in black and white, it was unmistakably me—from the ears to the ribbed grey sweater to the plume-like tail. And the eyes – wow. It was unbelievable what the held – the emotion, the knowledge, the mystery.

_Is this how she sees me?_

"It's unbelievable," I said.

"Is that a good thing?"

"Yes! Look, Kaze—"

"It's great," she said flatly.

"I'm so glad you like it!" Sakura cried. "I'd better go hand it in, or sensei won't accept in…after that, can I come and eat lunch with you?"

"Sure," I replied automatically, and I felt Kaze staring daggers at the back of my head.

-------------------

"I thought I told you to stay away from her."

I wouldn't look at Kaze. "It wasn't that simple."

"And why not?" she demanded.

When I didn't have an answer, I risked a glance up to meet her eyes; simultaneously, she turned away in disgust.

"Kaze—she's harmless."

She whirled around. "What about that drawing, Jinsei. She created a perfect image of you, _from memory. _That at least has to tell you she's going to notice when you're gone!"

_Like looking in a mirror…_

"Jinsei--? Christ, you're not even listening!"

"Kaze—"

"Forget it. Do what you will. But I'll make sure that it's you, and only you, who takes the fall for this."

--------------

The next day, Sakura was subdued – for her, anyway. She wore a purple T-shirt and matching leg warmers, black flats, a skirt patterned to look like the keys of a piano. She was already in the art room, humming to herself as she drew multicoloured music notes in chalk pastel.

She looked up abruptly when I approached. Her hair was held back by a pair of glittery chopsticks, and I could see her chandelier earrings swinging from the sudden movement – a tiny eighth note hung from the end of each chain.

"Hey, Jinsei."

"Feeling musical today?" I asked. "I mean, the skirt, the earring, the humming, the drawing…"

"I'm always feeling musical," Sakura replied seriously.

"Do you play an instrument, then?"

"Acoustic guitar, flute, clarinet…but piano is my favourite," she replied. "I'm not that good, though."

"Well, if you're half as good at playing as you are at drawing, I'd love to hear you sometime."

"Well…" she paused. "You have an empty class next, right?"

"Yes…"

"Me, too. Come with me to the music room after this class – it's empty, but the sensei lets me practice in there."

"Okay…great!"

Not once during that whole exchange did I think of Kaze.

------------------------

Sakura's hands danced over the piano keys, igniting a rich, complex melody.

Immediately, I was full to bursting with a number of feelings I could not describe. I closed my eyes, and watched as my mind's eye beheld wave after wave of colour – brilliant reds and yellows, angry splashes of orange, and calming stripes of soothing purples and greens – stretched, twisted, and melded together over and over.

And this feeling – it was like the music was in me, and I was riding molten waves of liquid sound.

Sakura finished, letting the last few notes linger, then turned to me.

All I could say was, "Do you really think you're 'not that good'?"

"No," Sakura admitted. "But there is always more for me to learn.

"Music is my true passion," she explained. "That's why art comes so easily to me – it's like music you can see."

I thought of the colours I'd seen, and I replied, "I agree. That song – did you write it?"

"Yes…how did you guess?"

"It was just a hunch."

"So…what did you think? You can be honest…"

"It was incredible," I replied. "Every note was just so…alive."

Sakura grinned. "You're the first to describe it that way."

"It was a compliment!"

"I know…but most people say the same things: good, great, nice, etc., etc. To say it's 'alive'…" she looked thoughtful. "Do you want to try?"

"Playing, you mean?"

"Yes."

"I don't know that first thing about music!"

"You obviously have a feel for it." She slid over to one side of the piano bench and indicated the space next to her. "Come sit down, and just try it."

"Okay…but this is going to be hard."

"That's what you said when we were doing portraits, but you did great!"

"It was nothing compared to yours," I replied.

"It's not a contest," said Sakura firmly. "So, come sit down, and give it a try. I'll help you."

I sat down on the bench, and lightly placed my hands on the yellowed keys. Carefully, I pressed a few, listening to the notes ring and resonate deep in the piano. I pressed them again, faster: I had created a simple melody.

Those few notes were like a code that unlocked something in me. Somehow, everything about the piano made sense to me, and I knew what to do. My right hand skimmed the keys to form a melody, increasingly more complex, and my left hand added a few bass chords. The song was nothing like Sakura's; nowhere near as good – but it was far more than I'd thought I could do. On my right-hand side, Sakura added her own touch, and trilling groups of sixteenth notes rose and fell with my part.

We were in perfect tune, perfect harmony – it was an amazing, exhilarating feeling. Something within me stirred; I opened my mouth and was surprised to discover I was singing.

_A new world that I don't know_

_Nowhere to turn, nowhere to go_

_Until, ahead, like an unseen glow—_

I was interrupted by the bell, and I stopped with a jolt, lifting my hands from the keyboard. Sakura, however, continued for a few seconds, slowing the song and bringing it to an end, reaching across me to strike some of the lower notes.

She turned to face me, her cheeks flushed slightly. "What did I tell you? I knew you had it in you!"

"I didn't," I replied, stunned at what I'd created. The music – the notes, the chords, the words; they'd all leapt into my head of their own accord.

Sakura rose from the bench, slinging her satchel over her shoulder. "I'll see you in history, then?"

"You won't have lunch with me and Kaze?"

"I don't get the impression Miyamoto-san likes me very much."

There was no use denying it. "I have no idea why she's taken a dislike—but you shouldn't let it stop you."

"That's okay—I'd rather not intrude," replied Sakura.

Her voice held finality. "All right," I conceded. "See you in history."

She smiled. "Will you come back here tomorrow?"

The music – the way it had seemed to possess me – it was amazing, incredible, intoxicating. "Yes," I replied hoarsely.

"Then I'll see you then, too."

--------------

Once we were back at our apartment, Kaze was civil enough, but she would barely speak to me. She was still irritated with me, but I could sense that there was something else bothering her. However, I decided not to press her – for now.

There was another energy burst that night, and the tension in the air thickened to almost suffocating levels.

----------------------

After art class, Sakura led me back to the music room in a maelstrom of colour – red-and-white striped tights, black combat boots, a neon-green hooded sweater, a skirt made up of about fifty layers of rainbow-coloured chiffon, and two different earrings: one was a large silver eighth note; the other was an eighth note as well, but small, black, and hanging from a thin chain. The colours of her clothes reminded me of the music in my mind's eye…

Once we reached the music room, she unzipped her sweater and draped it over a chair. Her white t-shirt was adorned with a single black treble clef, under which it read: _Music is what emotion sounds like._

_I couldn't agree more._

I sat down at the piano, but Sakura hung back. "Aren't you going to play?" I asked.

"I'm just going to listen, for now," she replied. "I want to focus on your singing. You have a good voice."

"I do?"

"Yes—a beautiful tenor."

"Well—thanks. Do you sing?"

"Not really."

"_Can _you sing?"

"Not really. Now, come on, play!"

I did; the music was born from my fingertips and rang throughout the room.

"You're a natural," said Sakura after a while.

"It feels so – _right," _I admitted.

"What music is wrong?" she asked seriously.

I didn't have an answer.

"Why don't you sing something?" Sakura suggested.

"I don't really know any songs…"

"What about the one from yesterday?"

"That just—came to me. Besides, it's a good thing the bell interrupted me, because I was out of words," I said jokingly.

"Well, I'll stop talking, and maybe something will 'come to you' again."

"But, last time, you were playing with me…"

"Do you think that will help?"

"Maybe."

"Well, okay." She smiled. "Slide over."

A minute later, four-part harmonies spiralled into the air, carrying a myriad of images and emotions: darkness, sunlight, fog, clarity, a wandering path, confusion, hope.

And then the words came.

_What is this that's happening to me?_

_For so long in darkness, I think I finally see_

_A brand-new side to everything I knew_

_Or thought I did, but now my sight_

_No longer betrayed, beholds the light_

_Shapes and sounds, in my mind, ring true._

We let the song run its course and end on its own volition.

"Is it normal to be able to improvise like that?" I asked.

'Does it matter if it's normal? It sounds amazing. _Alive." _She laughed.

When she laughed – the sound, combined with the lingering remnants of our music, seemed to shimmer in the air around her…

We'd been in flawless synchronization…

…meaning, we were perfect together…

…right?

Overwhelmed by a desire that barely seemed my own, I leaned over and kissed Sakura lightly on the lips.

I'd only meant it to last a moment, but she immediately pulled back and got to her feet.

"We should go – the bell will ring soon." She was turned away from me, and her hair hid her face, but I could tell she was flustered.

All I could do was sit, shocked, trying to grapple with these strange new feelings, and the immediate rejection that had followed.

I overheard Sakura as she yanked her sweater off the chair, the zipper scraping the molded plastic, and her footsteps as she walked quickly towards the door. Suddenly, they stopped, and, for a long minute, all was still.

Then, Sakura's voice, quiet and uncertain: "Jinsei?"

I stood and turned; she was already walking back. In one fluid movement, she wrapped her arms around my shoulders and placed her lips against mine.

My whole being came alive, then, vibrating with a kind of electric sensation. I placed one hand gently on the back of her head, running my fingers through her hair. I closed my eyes, savouring the moment.

When we finally pulled apart, and I opened my eyes, she was smiling at me.

'I'll see you later," she said, lifting her arms from my shoulders.

'Yes," I responded, barely able to speak louder than a whisper.

And then she was gone, leaving me alone, in even greater turmoil than before.

-----------

_Kaze…_

_Shouldn't I be feeling these things for Kaze? My partner, my Fighter, my Namesharer…_

_I should be…but I can't._

_Why?_

_------------------_

As it turned out, we'd run out of food, so Kaze and I walked down to the market.

It was extremely busy; the aisles were crowded with people. The incessant murmur of their voices masked our disquieted silence.

Kaze methodically pulled items off the shelves and dropped them into the basket. We weren't going to buy a lot of things: Seven Voices had provided us with money, but, if all went well, we weren't going to be in the city for much longer.

_When I leave..._

_...Sakura..._

"Grab a few cans of oolong tea, would you?" said Kaze, startling me out of my thoughts.

"Yeah...sure," I replied, slightly dazed.

But, when I turned around, I knocked into a girl who was behind me, knocking her to the ground.

"Oh, I'm sorry!" I cried. I reached down and grabbed her hand to help her up.

When I touched her hand, though, a kind of jolt shot up my arm. At the same time, I saw a blue diamond glittering in the corner of her ear.

I let go of her hand as quickly as I would a red-hot iron bar. She staggered back a step, turning her face up to impale me with brilliant blue eyes.

_Shadowless!_

_Of all the times..._

She turned and strode back down the aisle, making her way back through the crowd. Her pace was casual, but she was moving definitely towards the exit.

I nudged Kaze and pointed out our quarry.

The basket hit the ground with a crash, scattering food items across the floor, and Kaze was shoving her way through the people in a breakneck frenzy; I followed closely.

Shadowless looked back at us and increased her own pace slightly. The instant she stepped over the threshold of the sliding glass doors, she hit the ground running. Kaze and I were about a half a dozen steps behind her.

The sky glowed orange in the west, casting long shadows over the streets.

--------------

A/N: There you have it, people. Chapter Four, and a nice cliffhanger for you *grins evilly* I hope that you will review…

Oh, and I stole Justine's earrings for one of Sakura's outfits…the mismatched eighth notes are yours, I'm sorry. But seeing as I only stole them in spirit, I hope I'll be forgiven.

I love coming up with outfits for Sakura…I would totally wear them, too, if I had the stuff (I wish I had a rainbow petticoat-skirt!).

And so Jinsei learns to play music…and he likes Sakura, now, too. Or does he? Does he _really _like her, or is it just an "I'm-a-slave-to-the-music-and-I-have-no-control-over-my-actions" kind of thing? What do you want it to be? Jinsei/Kaze or Jinsei/Sakura…I'm very interested to know.

I'm looking forward to posting the next chapter…the ending will be very random and guaranteed to make you go "wtf?!?!?!?!" Heehee… *another evil grin* So, I hope to update soon, and I'll see y'all then!

~Raye Lynne


	5. Chapter 5: Fearless

Chapter 5: Fearless

A/N: Okay, you guys. Seriously. You're killing me. Four chapters – THREE reviews. C'mon, you all can do better than that.

Do I have to beg? Is that what you want? 'Cause I'll do it, you know.

BRING ON THE REVIEWS! PLEEEEEEEEEEEEASE!!! I WANNA HEAR WHAT YOU THINK!!!!

There, how was that?

Okay, just read the chapter and LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK!

No pressure.

Actually, scratch that. PRESSURE! PRESSURE! MWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

Pressure's on! Review!

~(slightly insane and highly review-deprived) Raye Lynne^^

--------------------

Shadowless threaded her way through the flood of people on the sidewalk. Kaze was ruthless, pushing, shoving, and elbowing to clear our way. There were several exclamations of anger and alarm as we passed.

We couldn't keep this up much longer. Someone was bound to—

There. A pair of suspicious eyes narrowed at us, and the silver flash of a cell phone.

_Shit! We can't be caught by the police!  
_

Shadowless looked over her shoulder and saw us coming steadily closer. Without warning, she made a wide turn and darted across the road, to a chorus of blaring horns. She took off down a side street, towards a complex of apartment buildings, the closest of which was under construction.

In tandem, Kaze and I followed. Twice, I was a hand's breadth away from being hit by a car. Then a taxi swerved to avoid crashing into the suddenly-stopped vehicles, spinning right into our path.

We sprang into the air; I curled up and rolled over the hood; Kaze planted a foot squarely on the windshield and vaulted over. By the time we were on the other side, however, Shadowless was out of sight. I frantically looked around, and followed her.

The partially-built apartment was a larger scale of a house made by a child out of toothpicks. The wooden skeleton of the building was supported by a steel trestle that rose from the ground to the widely-spaced slats that made up the roof, and this was what Shadowless was scaling; already, she was halfway up.

"Go!" hollered Kaze, and then we were both climbing as well.

Very close to the top, Shadowless got stuck; she struggled to tear the thickly knit material of her sweater, which had twisted around a bolt. Sensing victory, Kaze and I closed in.

Finally freeing herself, Shadowless pulled herself up onto what there was of the roof, and slowly she made her way across the wooden beam, arms stretched out and tail held high for balance. This time, Kaze and I weren't far behind her, but I couldn't help but look down at my feet. Six inches of wood was all that separated me from the 200-foot drop to the street below.

Bringing my gaze back up, I led the way towards Shadowless, still moving slowly, but faster than her.

The sun had shrunk away, as though in fear. Already the sky was tinged with the deep blue pall of night. Far below, the streetlamps were glowing.

Shadowless was approaching the end of the beam – soon she would have nowhere to go.

Or so I thought. She suddenly took off at a run and leapt the six-foot gap between buildings, landing on the sturdy concrete of the adjoining roof.

We had no choice. First, we ran, still careful to place one foot directly in front of the other.

Then we leapt.

There was a long moment of utter weightlessness, combined with the prominent fear of succumbing to gravity—

--then a jarring sensation, and relief as I felt solid concrete under my feet. A split second later, I heard Kaze land safely beside me.

I looked up. Shadowless was just standing there, staring in surprise. She hadn't thought we would dare to jump.

A moment later, she was off and running again. Bounding from rooftop to rooftop, with seemingly no effort, she was starting to increase the distance between us, but we followed nonetheless.

And then she stopped.

For, between the next group of apartments was a road, two hundred feet below. From up here, it was a thirty-foot space, impossible for any human to leap across.

A dead end.

Kaze and I stopped to catch our breath. There was no need to run, now. Shadowless was trapped.

A wind kicked up, stirring up the powder of dried leaves that dusted the rooftop. Inches from my shoulder, a flag whipped, snapping back and forth with a series of sharp _cracks._

Even though the falling darkness blurred her features, I still saw Shadowless' eyes flick towards it.

Then she lunged forward.

I stepped in her path and grabbed her forcefully, but she twisted in my grasp and landed a heavy punch to my jaw; I spun away, blinking away the stars that were shooting across my vision.

My sight cleared just in time to see Kaze pounce, and miss –

--then Shadowless grabbed the flag and swung towards the flagpole. She deftly switched her grip to the flagpole chain and slid down.

Kaze and I darted to the edge to see her jump off halfway down, and land expertly on the fire escape balcony.

"Come on!" I cried to Kaze. The fire escape stairs started up here, but we now had a lot of ground to make up for.

The beaten aluminum stairs rang as three pairs of feet pounded them. When Shadowless reached the bottom, she ran around the side of the building, ducking into an alleyway.

On the last floor, Kaze swung her legs over the balcony, dropping the last few feet to the ground, and I deftly copied her. When we burst into the alley, Shadowless stood calmly, waiting for us. The alley stretched on far behind her, the other end open to the street. She could have run, but she stood, waiting.

In her black cowl-neck sweater, charcoal-grey skirt, flat shoes and knee-high grey socks, she blended in well with the nighttime surroundings; even the diamond in her ear glittered like a fallen star. It was amazing – even though she was the intruder, the threat, the anomaly, she still made me feel out of my element.

Kaze was all business. "We declare a battle by wordspell."

To my surprise, Shadowless replied, "I decline."

Kaze blinked. "What?" she exclaimed. "Then why are you here, taunting us like this, if you don't even want a fight?"

"I wanted to test you," said Shadowless. "To see how far you'll go—just for the sake of following orders."

"What's that supposed to mean?" demanded Kaze.

"The only reason we're enemies is because you were ordered to hate me. Does that make sense to you?"

_What is she saying?_

"You're being manipulated and exploited by Seven Voices," Shadowless continued. "Why can't you see?"

Kaze snorted. "Where's that bullshit coming from? That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard."

Shadowless went on. "You're taught only how to do what you're told. So whoever controls your instruction controls you, too."

"Enough," said Kaze. "You're so pathetic. Just engage your systems and fight already."

Shadowless held her hands out in a peaceful gesture. I saw, with in inexplicable pang, that her palms were scraped raw and bloody from the flagpole chain. "I don't want to fight anymore. I don't wish to cause any pain."

I broke in. "Yeah, right." I fingered my jaw, still tender. There was going to be a bruise.

Shadowless was unfazed. "I was in danger. If I didn't bother saving myself, how can I save you?"

Kaze rolled her eyes, but I was intrigued. "Saving – us?"

"I told you – Seven Voices thinks they own you. They give orders; you follow them, without question, and that's just how they want it. How much damage would you be willing to do for them? How much harm would they have you inflict before you open your eyes?"

Every word was ridiculous, nothing but a show of assumed knowledge. But I still felt sharp flickers of uncertainty – for it was only logical that her impression of the Academy was centered around a grain of truth.

Shadowless sensed my doubt. Her eyes caught my gaze and held me prisoner; her voice became eager and imploring.

"Yes…you can see it, can't you, Jinsei?"

"Shut up!" snapped Kaze. "Leave him alone!"

"You realize that not all is well. You can sense a problem with –"

"_You're _the only problem here!"

Shadowless ignored her, focusing solely on me, her concentration rendering me mute. When she spoke, it was soft, conspiratorial, but still with that same anticipation and excitement.

'You know things are changing, Jinsei."

Inside, I froze.

"Things aren't what they should be anymore, are they?"

I nodded thoughtfully.

Kaze gasped. "What the--? Jinsei—_no!" _she hissed. "Don't listen!"

"Things are coming to light," Shadowless continued. She slid her gaze over to Kaze. "Things between you and your Fighter Unit, is that not--?"

Kaze drowned her out with a feral scream, like nothing I've ever heard before. "_**Pound and pummel; beat, bruise; a thousand iron hammers!!"**_

__I could only watch, shocked as Shadowless' body jerked in several directions before she fell and lay sprawled on the ground.

Kaze had not turned her systems on, but the malicious delivery and precise selection of her words – words meant to hurt, to inflict pain, to damage – had been enough. But that wasn't the worst of it—

Breathing hard, Shadowless pushed herself up and glared at Kaze. "It appears I overestimated you."

Attacking an enemy whose systems were disengaged was the most unethical and disgusting tactic a Fighter could use in battle: the absolute lowest of the low.

I'd never thought Kaze would sink to that level. I stared at her, horrified.

She ignored me. "Still don't want to fight?" she taunted. "Scared to lose?"

Somewhat shakily, Shadowless got to her feet. "After that display?" She shook her head in disgust. "If it's a fight you want, it's a fight you'll get." She turned and started to walk away.

'Where are you going?" yelled Kaze.

"I didn't say 'right now', did I?" Shadowless replied coolly. "Someone did call the police on us, you know."

As if on cue, distant sirens sounded.

"Shit," hissed Kaze. "Jinsei, let's go. If we're arrested—"

She didn't have to finish. If we were caught, there would be questions, ceaseless questions until the police got information from us they weren't supposed to have.

Our apartment was at the end of the street. We could just make it…

Kaze and I made a run for it. But, when we rounded the corner of the alleyway, I looked back.

Shadowless was already gone.

-------------------

We reached our apartment, and Kaze closed the door and locked it. But she stood stiffly by the door, still gripping the handle.

"Kaze, it's all right," I reassured her, as I removed my shoes. "They're not going to be looking here for us. I'm sure no one got an accurate enough description, and we were only creating a public disturbance. They'll hang around down there for a few minutes, then—"

Kaze cut in as though I hadn't been speaking. "Why did you listen to her?"

I could quite easily guess who the 'her' in question was.

"What if she was right?" I suggested.

"'Right'?! You think she may have been right? None of that crap she was telling us is true, you know that!"

"It seems that way, but I just get this feeling—" I trailed off, knowing I sounded ridiculous. "Do we really know, Kaze? And why would she lie?"

'To distract us, obviously! So she could run away without having to fight us!"

"Although you did manage to provoke her enough in the end."

Kaze fell silent, and looked at the floor. "She shouldn't have said what she did about me and you, Jinsei."

She sounded so vulnerable that I was taken aback. I took a step forward, then stopped, wanting to comfort her, but not sure how. "Kaze…"

She snapped her head up, and the expression in her eyes was hard and resolute. Suddenly, she stalked towards me, stood up on her toes, twined her fingers in my hair and pulled me into a violent kiss.

I tried to protest, but she wouldn't let me break away. She loosed her hands from my hair long enough to unzip my sweater and push it from my shoulders. She leaned all her weight against me, forcing me to stagger back until I hit something solid – the arm of the couch. Kaze's hands were now scrabbling with the bottom of my t-shirt.

I grabbed her wrists and pushed her away. "Kaze, what the hell--?"

She placed her hands squarely on my chest and shoved—hard. I stumbled over the couch's arm and landed on my back, splayed out over the cushions. Kaze took that chance to abandon her jacket, revealing a shoulder-baring tank top, then she clambered on top of me, kicking off her shoes and attacking my shirt again.

'What--?" I started again, but her mouth crashed down on mine, stealing my words from me. Then the weight lifted long enough for my shirt to be pulled over my head. Kaze sat up, and, popping the button, slid out of her jeans faster than I would have thought possible. Straddling me, she stared into my eyes. There was no love there, not even simple lust. It was a challenge, nothing more.

"What—are—you—doing, Kaze?" I demanded. I tried to push myself out from under her, but her hands came down, pinning my shoulders. I couldn't believe her strength—

"If it's Shadowless you agree with, you should have run away with her."

"What? What does she have to do with--?"

"But it's me you want…isn't it, Jinsei?"

I was going to say whatever it took to get myself out of this.

"Well—yes, of course, but not like—"

"I am your Fighter. We belong together. We are as one, untied under a single name. And you would rather have me than her, right?"

"Yes, Kaze, we're partners, after all, and—"

She appeared not to have heard anything after 'yes'.

"Then prove it," she said, almost viciously. "These—" she flicked her pale cat ears "—are yours. I don't want them. For a team of out battle caliber, they're a joke, really. A badge of shame.

"They're yours," she continued. "Take them. _Now. _And—" she pinched the tip of my ear and pulled my head up.

"Ouch! Ka—"

"—I want yours, too," she hissed. "I deserve them. So let's have mine be yours, and yours be mine."

She reached down, her – trembling?—fingers struggling to unzip my jeans.

So many thoughts and emotions were spiraling in my head.

Desire was not among them.

But obligation was.

And there was confusion, as well. A lot of confusion.

"Kaze—" I started again.

But her kiss fell on my again, crushing me into silence.


	6. Chapter 6: Mindless

**Chapter 6: Mindless**

**A/N: **Yay! A subscriber! There really is someone out there! Thank you, thank you, ChiyukiLuvs2Glomp!!!

Now, I know there's not a lot of you reading this…it's been up for a few months, and hits are still less than 200…but, for those of you who are there…review! Please, please review! Even if you hate it, let me know what I can do to make it better!

Okay. Enough begging. I'm only going to make an idiot out of myself for so long here…

Oh, and this chapter features a song, as well! "Music of the Night" from "Phantom of the Opera"!

Enjoy!

Reviews=smiles for Raye Lynne ^_^

---------------------

I was frozen. Trapped. Helpless. My thoughts were rushing through my head in an indecipherable blur. Grasping, I pulled snatches of words from the melee.

_No._

_Not right…_

_Stop…_

_Sakura!_

The thought of her name sent a surge of energy rushing through my limbs. I reached up, and, none too gently, pushed Kaze off me. She fell ungracefully to the floor, sending her glasses skittering away, and I immediately stood up.

I realized I was shaking, but I met her baleful glare. To my shock, her eyes glazed over with tears, and she turned her head away, slowly getting to her feet.

Despite the circumstances, I felt terrible for upsetting her. "Kaze, I'm—"

"Don't," she said, her voice slightly choked. "I'm the one who should be sorry." Slowly, almost robotically, she pulled her jeans back on. "I just thought—it's supposed to be right, isn't it? We're supposed to be able to kiss, and touch, and have sex, aren't we? I mean, it's practically expected of us! We're supposed to be able to – love each other" Though she clenched her eyes shut, a tear slipped out and trailed down her cheek. "But we can't. We never could. Ever since the day we met, we haven't connected on any level. I've always thought – hoped – that someday everything would – I don't know, just click. But ever since we first fought Shadowless—you've been slipping away from me, Jinsei. I don't know what she did to you…but you're not even the same person anymore, and I can feel us growing further apart; I've been able to for this whole time…"

I realized two things: this was what had been bothering Kaze. Sakura herself had never been the problem; it was me becoming close to her that was the issue.

And I also realized she was right. I'd been thinking that Shadowless had awoken something in Kaze that had made her different. But, in truth, she was the same as always – but I was truly seeing her for the first time.

Kaze – she wasn't different. She hadn't changed.

_I _had.

I scrambled for the right words.

'It's not your fault," I finally managed. "It's something that's not – right, between us. Something that never truly was – and I don't think – that's going to change."

"'Limitless,'" Kaze said bitterly. "We're supposed to be Limitless. But we've been conquered by ourselves as a pair."

I couldn't say anything to that. It was the truth, and nothing less. "I'm sorry, Kaze."

She smiled at me sadly. "So am I."

---------------------

I ached for an escape, but the brilliant silver moonlight filtered through the curtains, illuminating the living room nearly to the degree of daytime and making sleep impossible.

After a while, I gave up, and walked out onto the balcony. I stared out at the city lights, red, green, and gold below me.

"Look up," a voice beside me said.

I turned to see Shadowless, who was standing on the outside edge of the balcony, only half her feet grounded onto the cement, with one hand grasping the wrought iron.

_How did she get up here?_

She held up her one free hand; she'd wrapped a bandage around her palm. "Truce," she said, unnecessarily, for, strangely, I wasn't panicked by her presence.

_She had nothing to do with my and Kaze's fraying bond. She hasn't done anything other than defend herself. She had the power to hurt us, to stop us permanently. But she hasn't used it._

She'd changed out of her torn and dirty clothes, instead, she wore all black: tank top, flared pants, high-heeled boots, and a knee-length duster jacket the tied at the waist. She also wore a serene smile, like I hadn't seen since the end of our first meeting.

"Look up," she repeated, gesturing to the night sky around us.

And I did. The heavens were brushed with a cost of liquid indigo velvet, and dusted with hundreds of stars; their sparkling would put any gemstone to shame. And the moon hung, huge and rounded and perfect, surveying the scene with the air of a mother watching over her children, casting a benign silver glow.

It was incredible. I was speechless. Never before had I seen such a nocturnal display as this.

Shadowless laughed, and it had the same lilting, musical quality as her voice. "Breathtaking, isn't it? And you only needed a little help to see. You're learning," she said. "Soon, you'll be able to see more than what's within your sightline, all on your own."

"There's—always something more," I whispered this epiphany, half to myself.

"Always," Shadowless agreed.

All was silent for a moment, and the delicate chill of the night air brushed my skin.

Then Shadowless began to sing. Not with her chorded songspell-attack voice, just a normal singing voice, yet the sound poured out of her, clear and rich and powerful, as she turned her huge blue eyes up to stare at the moon.

"_Nighttime sharpens, heightens each sensation  
Darkness stirs and wakes imagination  
Silently the senses abandon their defenses."_

Colours began to dance in my mind's eye: blues and purples of a myriad of shades, with a rich underlayer of dark red.

"_Slowly, gently, night unfurls its splendour  
Grasp it, sense it, tremulous and tender  
Turn your face away from the garish light of day  
Turn your thoughts away from cold, unfeeling light  
And listen to the music of the night."_

But I was, already. Her voice was the very embodiment of the soul of the night. She was singing the night.__

Close you eyes and surrender to your darkest dreams  
purge your thoughts of the life you knew before  
Close your eyes, let your spirit start to soar—"

Her voice did soar; it rose to an amazing note that shimmered above our heads.

_  
"--And you'll live as you've never lived before."_

Even without her gaze on me, I couldn't take my eyes off her. But then she turned to face me and leaned over the bars a little, and I was helpless.__

"Softly, deftly, music shall caress you  
Hear it, feel it, secretly possess you  
Open up your mind,  
Let your fantasies unwind  
In this darkness which you know you cannot fight  
The darkness of the music of the night."

I found myself taking small, slow steps toward her. I was captivated, hypnotized—and I didn't mind.__

"Let your mind start a journey through a strange, new world  
Leave all thoughts of the life you knew before  
Let your soul take you where you long to be—"

That note again, trilling and scintillating –

And then her voice dropped, and she sang so softly that I would have had to strain to hear her had there been any other noise._  
_

_--Only then can you belong to me"_

I felt as though I already did, that I always had --

_  
"Floating, falling, sweet intoxication—"_

The moonlight that dappled her face in molten silver, and I wondered how I'd never noticed before how beautiful she was.__

"--Touch me, trust me, savour each sensation—"

Did her gaze become imploring? Could she want to have sex with me?

Could I want to have sex with her?

Her song rose to a crescendo.

_  
"--Let the dream begin, let your darker side give in  
To the power of the music that I write  
The power of the music of the night."_

I stood right before her, and I couldn't say what exactly happened next, nor with whom it began.

But, a second later, we were kissing, and it was the most incredible sensation I'd ever experienced. The intoxicated passion I felt under her song intensified a hundredfold, and tingling sparks shot through me to my very soul.

There was a word for this.

_Perfection._

When we finally came apart, Shadowless' eyes met mine, and their fathomless blue seemed to be dancing. She opened her mouth again and sang very softly.__

"You alone can make my song take flight  
Help me make the music of the night."

She smiled. "Good-bye, Jinsei."

Then she leapt. I looked over the edge, but I neither saw nor heard her land. All I knew is that she was gone again, and the sudden emptiness and longing nearly overpowered me.

But it didn't last for long before I was filled to bursting with confusion.

My first thought was a wry observation: _I've kissed three girls in one day…_

_Shadowless…Kaze…_

_…Sakura._

What had happened with Kaze meant nothing. She'd admitted it. It was just a desperate attempt to rekindle a flame that had never even started to burn.

But Shadowless…what I'd just shared with her…that wasn't something I could just explain away. I couldn't explain it at all.

_Could she have—bewitched me, somehow? Altered my mind?_

It couldn't be that simple. What I'd felt – those emotions were impossible to fake, in their intensity, in their being so – alive.

_…Sakura…_

I'd thought I'd had everything with her—how quickly we'd connected, our shared passion of music. If I'd never known any other girl in a romantic way, that would have made no difference to me; I'd have been perfectly happy.

But what had just happened was so much more – so much _more, _in every respect. It was as though we were made for each other.

_No! Shadowless is the enemy! And she's not Sakura._

I stared up at the moon, and it stared back at me, its apparent wisdom and omniscient aura seeming to mock me.

I went back inside, and spent a sleepless night drowning in my thoughts.

----------------

Kaze and I were walking to school the next morning.

"Jinsei," she said, "about last night—"

"Forget about it."

"Really, I'm—"

"Kaze, really. It doesn't matter."

"Okay." She fell silent for a moment. "But we're still partners, right?"

_Partners to capture Shadowless? I don't know what I want more – to corner her and demand answers, or to never see her again._

_Or…to kiss her again, and this time –_

_"_Jinsei? We're still 'Limitless', right?" She sounded so un-Kaze-like, so nervous and scared.

"Of course," I said. "We'll always be 'Limitless'."

These surely were the words that were our ultimate undoing.

As we crossed through the school's parking lot, someone was waiting for us on the other side.

She was about our age, and taller than Kaze, but not as tall as Sakura. Her black hair angled downward, raking the edges of her jawline, and the layers underneath were striped with blues and greens. Her eyes were a very pale, almost translucent green. She wore jeans, black sneakers, and a black peacoat. She had her ears, plus a short plume of a tail.

The stranger regarded me for a fleeting instant before turning her attention to Kaze. "It's really you," she said, her voice slightly hoarse with contained excitement. "Ritsu-sensei said you would be here, but I hardly dared to believe—you are Miyamoto Kaze, right?"

Kaze frowned suspiciously. "Yes, and this is Hirokoshi Jinsei. Who are you?" she demanded, not without some hostility.

"Forgive me," said the girl. "I am called Kanagawa Mizu. But, really—" she held up her right hand, palm facing out, and rolled up the sleeve of her coat to reveal the inside of her wrist. When we saw what was written there, Kaze gasped, and my heart nearly stopped.

Mizu continued speaking, though no words were necessary at this point.

"Really," she said, "my true name is – 'Limitless'."


	7. Chapter 7: Nameless

Chapter Seven – Nameless

A/N: Wow, got a lot of responses for last chapter…for this story, anyway. But thank-yous are in order for the following: Frozen Voices and Yuki Shiro-Chiyuki Kaji for reviewing and subscribing, and DarkAngelZelda for fav-ing. Thank you so much! You guys don't know how happy your feedback makes me. I hope you won't be disappointed in this chapter.

~Raye^^

-------------------------

_"Really," she said, "my true name is – 'Limitless'."_

_-------------------------_

"Impossible," said Kaze. This single word emerged as a breathless whisper, and I knew she didn't believe what she was saying. Obviously, it was true; it was right in front of our eyes. There was a far more pressing question.

"How can this be?" I asked. My voice, though slightly hoarse, was remarkably steady, considering the cracks in everything I had ever known had suddenly and violently spread, and pieces of my shattered world were coming crashing down around me. "There's only ever two to a name – there's not supposed to be three."

"But that's just it," said Mizu. "There are only two."

"Forgive us if our count says otherwise," snarled Kaze, but her voice quavered with a kind of fear mixed with something else I couldn't name.

Mizu gave a short, bubbly laugh, but it was tinged with something like hysteria. In an instant, my breath turned to ice, freezing into solid, heavy blocks in my lungs as she lunged forward and wrapped her arms around Kaze, bursting into tears.

Immediately, Kaze embraced Mizu, this perfect stranger we had met maybe two minutes ago, and sobbed into her shoulder.

_What the hell is going on?!_

They finally parted, but their hands were clasped together, and their eyes, the lightest and darkest of greens, gazed at each other through a thick glaze of tears. Mizu's face was caught in a rapturous smile, as though she'd just found hat she'd been searching for all her life.

And so was Kaze's.

I knew, then, that Kaze had just found her real partner. But I didn't want to believe it.

_No, no, things are changing too fast. Kaze's been my one constant, with me through it all, from the start, and now she's – she's ---_

"What is this?!" I shouted. "What the fuck is this?!"

They both started, as though they'd forgotten that I was standing right there. Mizu seemed irritated that I'd interrupted, but Kaze looked at me and burst into tears again.

"Jinsei, Jinsei, I'm so sorry…"

I didn't say anything. If I remained silent, then it wasn't over; it wasn't goodbye.

'Jinsei –I – I – Mizu is – my Sacrifice," she stammered. "I never would have thought – but – when I saw her, I felt strange – but – at her touch – I couldn't deny it anymore."

"No." It was all I could say, and I felt pathetic as I said it, like I was raising my hands to protect my face against a massive boulder plummeting towards me.

"I'm sorry, Jinsei; I'm sorry!" Kaze cried. "Don't think I'm betraying you; I can't help it; I can't help it!" By the end, she was screaming.

Mizu came and took her in her arms again. This time, I could see their bond – a golden thread that glittered and sparkled so it was almost blinding.

There was still a second bond present – mine and Kaze's.

It was a dull silver glow in comparison, like tarnished chrome. In visible form, our bond had always been different from everyone else's, but we'd always assumed it was because we were elite. But it was because, somehow, it wasn't real, a forced connection, a faked attraction.

Even as I watched, the silver glow began to fade.

_"No!!!" _The savage cry ripped from my throat, and I lunged forward, dragging Mizu away. "Get away from her!" I hollered. 'I'm her Sacrifice – she's my Fighter1 _Mine!! _Get the hell out of here; leave; go, now!"

"I can't!" shouted Mizu. "I can't leave her now, you know it doesn't work like that!"

I wouldn't listen; I was a being possessed.

"Get – away!" I yelled, and threw Mizu bodily to the ground; but she was back up in a second, flying at me in a flurry of fists. I grabbed her by the wrists, straining to hold her back.

I heard Kaze scream; out of the corner of my eye, I saw her on her knees, her head in her hands. I could feel her being pulled in two separate directions by her two bonds and the agony was overwhelming her.

"Stop!" she wailed piteously. "Please, stop!"

I continued to grapple with Mizu – one bond had to be broken, and I would make it be hers! But the girl had gone limp in my grasp.

"Stop!" she cried. "You're hurting her!"

'You're the one who's hurting her! She was fine until you got here!"

She struggled to get free. "Let me go!"

"Only if you get out of here!"

"You act like I have a choice! Now let me go; I have to help _my _Fighter-"

I couldn't control myself; I struck out and landed a glancing punch to her jaw. She turned her head away from the worst of it, but she gasped in surprise and pain.

But it was nothing compared to the scream that came from Kaze. It was high and piercing, and the sound seemed to threaten to tear her in half.

In that instant, I felt our bond break.

I froze in place, my joints locked, my hands still grasping a struggling Mizu's wrists; they were now like manacles of unforgiving iron. I was exactly like ice, solid, unmoving, my thoughts ceased in their tracks, and numb, so numb…

Then I felt a burning gash along the side of my face, followed by a blow to the side of the head, and I saw starts. It was Kaze. She'd dragged her nails across my cheek, then struck out with her other hand, driving her palm into my temple.

"Let go of her, _now_," hissed Kaze. Her gaze was its familiar venomous hostility, but never before had it been directed at me in this magnitude.

Reeling from the suddenly severed bond and the hit to the head, my knees buckled, and I fell to the ground on all fours.

Kaze's face crumpled, as though she'd realized what she'd just done. "Oh, god – Jinsei, I'm so sorry; I didn't mean it…"

_Of course not. It's raw instinct for partner to protect each other._

Kaze wasn't my partner anymore…

Mizu gently placed a hand on Kaze's shoulder. "They sent a car for us," she said. "They want us to go back, and start training together as soon as possible."

"Back?" echoed Kaze, her tone hollow. She was staring, riveted, at me, still on the ground.

"To Seven Voices." Mizu gently tugged on Kaze's arm. 'Let's go; they're waiting for us." I could tell how much pleasure she took in saying "us".

Kaze stood, hesitant.

"Let's go," Mizu urged.

"Not without me," I said, slowly picking myself up.

"You're not –"

I glared at her. "There's no fucking way that you can waltz in here, steal away my Namesharer, and walk out again without making sure I get some fucking answers."

Mizu relented. Having been isolated from a Fighter, she'd been feeling something close to what I was feeling for most of her life.

'Fine."

The three of us started walking to where a dark blue Mazda was parked.

'Jinsei!"

We stopped and turned; Sakura was running across the parking lot, calling my name, her braided sandals slapping noisily against the pavement.

'Let's go; let's get out of here," hissed Mizu, but Sakura was already there, a blaze of embroidery – jeans, peasant blouse, and an iridescent rayon scarf – her eyes wide with confusion and concern, and scanning Mizu warily.

'What's going on, Jinsei? I saw you – fighting. You're lucky none of the teachers saw you…is everything okay?"

"Everything's fine."

"You're hurt!" exclaimed Sakura.

I brought me fingertips to my face where Kaze had scratched me; they came away dry. Three drops of blood had fallen and stained my white button-down shirt, though, like sinister jewels.

"I'm fine," I said.

Sakura shook her head. 'You're lying," she said, her tone slightly panicked. "Where are you going?"

Kaze and Mizu shot meaningful glares at me, but they weren't necessary. "I can't tell you," I said softly.

"Don't go!" cried Sakura, who seemed genuinely afraid. "You can't! Once they have you back; they'll never let you leave!"

"Sakura…" I started, surprised by her intensity. _She doesn't even know what she's talking about… _"It's okay. I'll be back."

I realized that I had one other constant, a newer one. She hadn't been with me from the start, but since I'd met her nearly a week ago, she'd been there…She was the only thing I had left, now, and I couldn't afford to lode her.

"Promise you won't leave," I whispered. I badly wanted to hold her close and never let go, but, what I truly needed now were answers, so, one day, I could tell her the truth, in its entirety. "Promise you'll wait for me."

Mizu and Kaze looked at me like I was crazy, and even Sakura looked dubious.

"I – I wasn't going to – of course I'll wait," said Sakura. "But you – promise you'll come back."

Her earnestness threw me. I could tell there was more to this than what lay on the surface, but it would have to remain an unsolved mystery for now.

"I promise," I said. I reached forward to take her hand, but Mize grabbed me forcibly and ushered me to the car. I dutifully took the front seat while the girls climbed into the back. The driver, acknowledging us with a curt nod, started the car and drove away; I could see in the sideview mirror that Sakura was watching us go.

----------------------------

"Explain," I hissed through gritted teeth.

Ritsu-sensei regarded the three of us calmly, seeming almost amused.

"It's quite simple, really, Hirokoshi-kun. You are not Limitless' Sacrifice; you never were. That honour goes to Kanagawa-kun--now that we have discovered her, we were able to match her with the proper Fighter Unit. You know how it works."

'Don't give me that," I snapped, with a complete disregard for a respectful way of speaking. "How was I involved with Limitless, then if I'm not part of it anymore?"

"You say 'anymore', but you never were. The 'Limitless' you belonged to was the result of an artificial bond."

Kaze and I stiffened; Mizu's curiosity was piqued, but she remained otherwise impassive.

Ritsu-sensei continued. "You are well aware that a Fighter Unit's name appears several years before a Sacrifice's, so as to immediately distinguish which of the two a child is going to be. When Miyamoto-kun's name, Limitless, appeared, you, a promising young student, were selected to be her Sacrifice, and imbued with her name. If this experiment were to be successful, I would not have to wait until the Sacrifice's names appeared, then search all of Japan until I could match up the proper pair. I could create bonds, create partnerships out of nothing. I believed that most of a bond's power lay in the mind, was purely psychological. If a pair believed they were meant to be together, and were taught to believe nothing but this, and each partner bore the same name, then the bond would form itself."

_That's how, when I arrived, they were able to tell me that Kaze was mine; even when my name hadn't appeared! I was only six, then!_

"The two of you were our test subjects – and the experiment was nearly a success. Your prowess in battle was unmatched, but that can be attributed to your strengths as individuals. When you were older, outgrowing children's naïveté, I could see your bond beginning to strain, and I decided the two of you were failures and I decided to begin the search for the real Sacrifice for Limitless."

Kaze and I were rigid with horror and anger, and Mizu seemed stunned as well.

"That's sick," I spat. 'A partnership's bond is a sacred thing, and what you've done is a violation of something that's precious beyond words. To fake a bond of a lifetime, that's -- that's _– inhuman!!"_

I could only assume Kaze agreed with me. It was unnerving, not being able to sense her feelings, and my only awareness of her presence was being able to see that she was in close proximity.

"It's perfectly human, Hirokoshi-kun –it's science."

I was speechless. _How can he justify something like that to himself?! It's like – he doesn't even think of us as people…_

"I believe," said Ritsu-sensei, "there is only one thing left to do." He pulled a key on a string out from under his loose-collared shirt, and unlocked a drawer in his desk. Pulling out a small vial of translucent pink-tinged liquid, he held it up to the light for a moment's inspection. Turning back to me, he ordered, "Roll up your right sleeve."

I turned the cuff back twice to reveal the name on my wrist, the name that was no longer mine. Unstoppering the vial, Ritsu-sensei carefully poured the liquid onto the letters.

"That name is nothing but a tattoo," he said. 'This will dissolve the ink, but it will have to eat through a few layers of sin first, so it may sting…"

"Sting" was an understatement; it felt more like someone was scraping my skin off with coarse sandpaper. I gritted my teeth, strangely determined not to show any discomfort.

Suddenly, it was over. A red, raw oval surrounded the place where my name had once been. That last fragment of the delusion I had grown up under had been stripped away, and I felt a bizarre combination of resentment and relief.

I saw a single tear trail down Kaze's cheek. This was hurting her, too. Anything we'd ever shared, any hopes we may have had for ourselves – they'd all been untied under the name Limitless. Now that my name was gone, it was like it had never happened, and that ten years of our lives had been forsaken.

But she would be all right. Even as I looked on, Mizu put her arms around Kaze and murmured something in her ear; Kaze leaned her head on Mizu's shoulder. They had each other: their partner, their true match, literally made to be together. I was the one who was alone.

Or was I?! Of course, somewhere out there was _my_ match, searching for me, too!

I slammed my hands down on Ritsu-sensei's desk and leaned forward, right in his face. To his credit, he didn't flinch.

'What is my true name, then?" I demanded. "What is the name of my Fighter Unit? Who's my partner, and my true Namesharer? If I'm not Limitless – who am I?"

-----------------------------

A/N: There you go! Another chapter up and over with, and hopefully now some things make a little more sense. I hope you enjoyed this chapter (pleeeeeeeeeeease let me know!) and I'll post the next one as soon as I get it written!

Hugs and hearts,

~Raye Lynne:)


	8. Chapter 8: Helpless

A/N: To my reviewers: FrozenVoices, and Lady Miki (also my fav-er and subscriber) **arigat****ō****!!! **I am now very proud to present the second-to-last chapter of part one!!! I won't keep you here any longer…you're going to want to see what happens…

----------------------------

**Chapter Eight – Helpless**

"_If I'm not Limitless – who am I?"_

_-------------------------_

__Ritsu-sensei's voice was hard. 'It's been clear for a while that the two of you were failures," he said. "If I knew who your Fighter Unit was, Hirokoshi-kun, I would have matched you up a long time ago."

"Then I'm asking you – what is my true Name?"

He steepled his fingers and sighed. "It's – impossible to know."

I gritted my teeth, trying to fight back the rising wave of despair. "What?"

"Imbuing you with a Name that is not your own appears to have cancelled out the appearance of your true Name. I'd thought this may happen…"

'So…now what?"

"Your name should appear on you when you are brought into direct corporal contact with your Fighter Unit."

"But how ill I know who that is when I don't even know the Name? How do I know your experiment hasn't screwed me up so badly that I won't even be able to recognize our bond if we ever meet?"

Ritsu-sensei paused.

"I don't," he said. "But that's exactly why it' an experiment, Hirokoshi-kun. One can never know what the outcome will be beforehand."

I was stiff and silent with rage.

_We're just being used…manipulated…experimented on…_

"Now, Miyamoto-kun and Kanagawa-kun…you will need to start training together as soon as possible. You, Hirokoshi-kun…as you are now deprived of a partner, you will have to start your training over from the beginning."

_They don't care about us…they're just using us, like tools…_

The realization hit me like a blow to the head.

_Shadowless was right!_

And I knew what I had to do.

'Ritsu-sensei," I said. "I ask permission to continue my mission and capture Shadowless."

He raised an eyebrow. "You believe you're capable on your own? After you and Miyamoto-kun failed together?" I was going to say no, I was sure. I thought quickly.

'How will you know what I'm capable of as a single, without being held by a false bond? Perhaps, during my time with Kaze, my powers were _restricted._ How can you know unless you try this?"

"Jinsei," said Kaze quietly. "you…you could be killed."

I shrugged. Only I knew that, whatever may happen between me and Shadowless would not involve death… "So what if I am? I'm a lone Sacrifice, and it's entirely possible that I'll never even know my Name. If I die…what would you have really lost? But think what could be gained if I survive…and I win? You can think of it as a gamble…or…" I locked eyes with Ritsu-sensei. "…an experiment."

He seemed amused. "Very well, Hirokoshi-kun. You have a week; if you have not yet returned, you shall be found and brought back." He paused. "Good luck, Hirokoshi-kun. You are dismissed."

I looked at Kaze and Mizu, the new Limitless. Mizu responded with a glare, but Kaze met my eyes, sad and wistful, but resigned.

_We __were__ Limitless…but we were conquered by ourselves._

I looked away first. There was no use in attempting to cling to or regain a past that had been nothing but a lie.

I bowed. "Thank you, Ritsu-sensei." Then I walked out the door, out of the Academy, confusion replaced by purpose.

_Thank you…for nothing, you sick bastard. _

_-------------------_

Shadowless had known.

She'd been trying to warn me and Kaze. It was no wonder why she'd been trying to avoid capture.

But I had to find her. The way she always spoke, as though in code, implied that she knew a lot about what was going on, and I wanted the answers that she had.

_Had she known that mine and Kaze's bond wasn't real?_

Most likely, she'd probably seen from the start.

"_Things are coming to light…Things between you and your Fighter Unit, is that not--?"_

That had been all she could say before Kaze lashed out at her…

…but, plainly, she had known…

I began to wonder…Shadowless travelled alone, it seemed, but was she bonded? Did she have a Sacrifice, another half of Shadowless, or did her abilities of songspell make her too unique to have a match? Or, was she like me; did she once have a Sacrifice, and then they were torn apart? What was her past? Had she gone to Seven Voices and then run away? Or had she been running from them all along? What atrocities had they committed against her to ignite her decision to run? What could their plans be for Kaze, now that they had Mizu as well? Would it be necessary to save her?

_"I was in danger. If I didn't bother saving myself, how can I save you?"_

Could I save her?

All these questions spun through my head, but this time, I was not overwhelmed. I had one single goal now: find Shadowless. After that, the answers would reveal themselves.

------------------------

The tiny apartment seemed huge without Kaze. I slept on the living room couch again, out of habit.

I accepted that she'd found her true match. There were no insane schemes going through my head as to how to get her back. I was happy for her; I truly was, now that I'd come to myself. Besides, one could not fight against a true bond – the old Limitless was living proof of that.

The one thing that bothered me was that I could hardly even sense Kaze now. When I reached out with my mind, it used to be like she was a glimmer of light in the darkness. Now – I could detect her as no more than a ripple in the inky black, to the same magnitude I could detect Mizu. There was no light in the darkness for me anymore. Nor was there Shadowless, no matter how I strained my senses to find her. My world stayed black – not a ripple, not a glimmer, just choking, endless black that spelled out just how alone I was.

No – I wasn't entirely alone. I had Sakura.

_Sakura…_

She'd acted so strangely today… like she'd known what was going on, like she'd gotten some kind of sense of the truth about Seven Voices.

"_Don't go! You can't! Once they have you back; they'll never let you leave!"_

I was struck by what Ritsu-sensei had said_. "You have a week; if you have not yet returned, you shall be found and brought back."_

_So what, then? Is it like I'm a prisoner? If so, then what? Do I run? Do I go back and see what I can learn? Or do I pretend nothing's wrong, and that I never met Shadowless?_

_And how did I start thinking about Sakura and end by thinking about Shadowless?_

What had happened between me and Shadowless did not change how I felt about Sakura.

_But Sakura does not change how I may feel about Shadowless._

And how did I really feel about either of them, really? Sakura…I liked her. A lot. But I didn't honestly know if I loved her – I'd never known what love was not even with Kaze.

_Is it possible…that I don't know __how__ to love?_

And Shadowless…what had it been? An acknowledgement that we may not be enemies…a momentary connection…a shared musical moment under the moonlight…and then she was gone again, leaving me with this confusion.

_Another reason I have to find her…_

_But what about Sakura, then?_

Having come nearly full circle, the familiar confusion awaited me this time around, accompanied by guilt – for what, I wasn't entirely certain.

-----------------

I was surprised by a knock on my door the next morning.

It was Sakura. "Hi, Jinsei," she said quietly.

"Hey," I replied. She wore a graffiti-print white denim skirt, a highlighter-yellow top, fingerless gloves, and legging, a hoodie, and high tops in shocking neon pink, but her mood seemed more 'blue' than anything. She was smiling, but the expression in her eyes was weary and troubled.

"The school keeps records of addresses; I just asked them where you live," she explained. She proffered a short stack of papers. "I brought you your homework."

"Oh…" I took it. "Thanks."

"No problem." She smiled, but there was little conviction in it. "That's not the only thing I came for…I needed to talk to you."

"Do you want to come in?"

"No, thanks, that's okay. I just wanted to say – I'm sorry, about yesterday. I – I don't know what came over me. But I know I was acting strangely, and…I'm sorry."

"…It's okay. I was just kind of…confused, I think." _When did talking to her become this awkward?_

"Yeah, I don't blame you for that. I was just –" she shook her head. "Never mind. You –you are coming back to school tomorrow, right?"

"Yes…" _For a week, at least. Then…what?_

"Good. I miss our music sessions." This time, her smile shone as brilliantly as I remembered it, and it seemed to pull my own lips into an upward curve.

"Music is my everything," she continued. "It helps me to channel all my feelings into one source, and make something beautiful." She seemed to be talking more to herself now than to me. "So does art, I suppose, but music – is all that, and it lets me forget – some things…" she seemed to be staring through me, and her face had fallen. I was seized by a desire to hold her close and kiss her until she smiled again, but, somehow, there was a gap that had opened up between us that prevented me; a gap formed from _what_, I wasn't sure.

"Sakura…are you okay?"

"Oh!" she came back to herself. "I'm fine. But, Jinsei…you don't look so good…"

And I realized what the gap was. It was made up of unanswered questions. Sakura, I realized, never really talked about herself. There'd been that day when I'd given her my (fake) life story, but I still knew nothing about her background. And the way she'd blatantly deflected my question, combined with her behaviour yesterday, was definitely suspicious.

"Sakura," I said on an impulse. "Where are your parents?"

Her glare was so immediate and intense that I was afraid for an instant; her eyes were all but spitting sparks. "They're dead," she declared ferociously. Then she blinking, as though she'd just remembered I was there. "Not dead like your parents. They're probably out there, somewhere. But, for all they've – I mean – I should go," she said suddenly. "But, Jinsei, I –" she stopped.

"Yes…?"

'I – never mind," she said. "See you tomorrow, Jinsei." With another weak smile, she turned and left.

I stood in the open doorway for several minutes afterward, trying to figure out what had just happened.

---------------------------

It was strange, going to school without Kaze. But it was also strange, being around Sakura. It was strange that this was strange, and I couldn't decide which was stranger, which was the strangest thing of all.

As we entered the music room after art, I felt, simultaneously, senses of relief and foreboding. A prickling sensation seemed to be dancing between my skin and my black sweater, and the protruding white cuffs and collar seemed too tight.

I looked over at Sakura. There was something odd about her appearance; I took inventory. Her tetracoloured hair hung loosely, just brushing past her shoulders, its length almost matched by the black-onyx-studded dangling earrings she wore. A black velvet ribbon was tied around her neck, and a blood-red pendent was nestled in the hollow between her collarbones. Over a white tank top she wore a grey-wash denim vest and matching capri pants. Spiraling over these was a magnificent dragon, hand-painted (by her, no doubt), in brilliant scarlet. The head started on the ribcage of the vest on the right side; the body spread across the back; it was broken by a thin strip of the white top, then it started again, its tail winding around her left leg and ending just below the knee. Her forearms were encased in black gauntlets, which laced up from the elbows to the backs of the hands with black silk ribbon. Then my eyes reached her black-toenailed feet, and I realized what it was: she was wearing strappy black sandals with four-inch heels. I was used to her being about six inches shorter than me, now her eyes were almost at a level with my own, and it was somehow disconcerting.

_I'm being ridiculous…there's nothing wrong with high heels._

Coming to my senses, I realized Sakura was looking at me, too. Her whole being seemed to radiate several different emotions: reluctance, fear, joy, pain, regret, and excitement. My senses were thrown into a whirl; it was so uncharacteristic of her, and the prickling feeling intensified.

'Jinsei," she said; her voice was quiet, yet hard and steady and bore a weight of importance. "I have something to tell you."

My heart rate didn't so much speed up as it seemed to leap into my throat. _I thought she knew more than she was letting on! Is she going to tell me now? _I tried to prepare myself for revelation and brace myself for disappointment at the same time, and only succeeded in making myself feel somewhat nauseous. I left my features neutral and gently prompted, "Yes?", fearing to dare to hope for some answers to this ever-growing puzzle…

But Sakura said nothing, and instead sat down at the piano.

"Sakura…?"

"Shhh…" she said softly, and began to play.

I recognized the melody; it was the one we'd been playing together when I came up with my very first lyrics, when they'd just leapt into my mind.

And then she started to sing.

_"Do you sing?" _I'd asked her that one time.

_"Not really."_

_"Can__ you sing?"_

_"Not really."_

But she was singing now, singing my song, my words –

--but –

_A new world that I don't know_

_Nowhere to turn, nowhere to go_

_Until, ahead, like an unseen glow—_

And I was singing along, even though I didn't know the next words; it was like she was pulling them out of my mouth with her own song; our songs were pulled together; they fed off each other; winding and spiraling like the painted dragon, weaving a perfect harmony –

--_Melodies forming a diamond road_

_By the music of the min is showed._

--but I wasn't listening to myself, only to her –

-- because _I knew that voice!_

But I could only stand there, helpless, my tongue bound until the music petered out and she turned to trap me with her riveting blue gaze.

I found my voice – barely. It was more of a rasp.

"You," I gasped. "You're Shadowless."

She smiled, brilliantly like Sakura, and yet enigmatically, like Shadowless.

"Yes," she said softly. "Yes, I am."

---------------

A/N: So? What'd you think! Surprised? O.O Review please! ^_~*

NEXT CHAPTER IS THE LAST ONE, DON'T MISS IT!

~Raye Lynne


	9. Chapter 9: Shadowless

A/N: So...this would be the last chapter of the first part of this story, in case you don't remember. I just want to say that, I'm okay that not many people are reading this story, (though I've gotten some PMs that tell me I've got a couple more followers of this fic, even though I haven't updated in, like, forever, haha) but thank you so much with a starclamation point on top to those of you that do. You support means a lot to me:) Thanks for putting up with the long wait, and hopefully this chapter makes it worthwhile.

~Hugs and chocolate pop-tarts to: Frozen Voices, alex, serenie-beanie and especially to October Autumn:)

Raye^^

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**Chapter Nine -- Shadowless**

_"You're Shadowless."_

_..._

_"Yes...Yes, I am."_

_--------------------------_

It seemed to take me awhile before I was able to control my tongue to the point where I could form an intelligible sound. However, it appeared that I could only manage one syllable before my voice gave out on me again.

"How?"

She said not a word, but reached up and tugged on one of the fuschia streaks in her hair. After offering a moment's resistance, the brilliantly-coloured lock slid from between the strands, and she dropped it onto the floor. She repeated the action over and over, without making a sound, and soon a pile of fuschia, turquoise, and chartreuse lay at her feet; some of the strands curled slightly around the legs of the piano bench.

I watched, offering no words of my own, but I was reeling inside; my heart was racing. I was coherent enough to notice, however, that without the distracting neon colours, a distinct blue sheen was visible in her black hair.

But she still had Sakura's face...no sooner had this thought crossed my mind than she reached into her black satchel and pulled out a cloth and pulled it across half her face.

My stomach clenched. The cloth was now covered in powdered streaks and smears of tans, golds, and pinks--flesh-toned makeup that had been applied so expertly as to completely change the contours of her face, so that even with eyes the same shade of blue, she would appear to be a completely different person.

_Should I be surprised?_ a part of me thought ruefully. _She is an artist._

And now she looked up at me again, with only half the makeup off, so that half her face was Sakura and half was Shadowless. The sight induced a horrible sickly feeling within me, something close to nausea, and I turned my head away, though she continued to stare at me with Shadowless' calm regard.

I finally had to say, "Your makeup...the rest..." My voice cut off again, choking out any other words. She understood, though, and, exhaling softly, she slowly, almost sombrely removed the rest. Even watching out the corner of my eye, I could tell how she did it with a sense of finality. So Sakura was gone forever, then...

Not quite. As I looked back, she was reaching up to her left ear and pulled off a small black rubber tip. The blue diamond sparled mockingly at me amongst the fragile pink skin and short, soft black fur.

Now Sakura was gone, never to return, and it was like she'd never existed at all. There was only Shadowless; it had been her all along; it was just another lie, another pretense, another deception, and that was the last thing I needed right now.

I tried to start "You---you--"

She wouldn't look at me as she started singing:

**"Sleep soundly now,**  
**Forget the trials of the world;**  
**Forget it all.**  
**Succumb to the oblivion**  
**That the darkness holds in welcome**  
**Answer the lure of slumber's call..."**

She was singing over me, over my protests, drowning me out, drowning me...

--------------------------

_Who are you? What of you is real? What was a lie?_

_I've had enough of lies._

_So many...in such a short time...but I would have never, ever guessed that Sakura..._

_...not Sakura._

_Shadowless._

_But who is Shadowless, really? Does any fragment of Sakura remain?_

_**It's still me, Jinsei.**_

_What...?! How...?_

_**You know--knew -- me as Shadowless. And Hiwatari Sakura. Those are both my names. I never lied to you.**_

_You never told me ---_

_**But I didn't lie.**_

_Fine. But you didn't tell the truth either._

_**I know.**_

_So…are you going to tell me why you pretended to like me?_

_**I wasn't pretending.**_

…_Yeah, right. What's really going on here?_

_**You mean you haven't figured it our yet?**_

_No, I haven't. I can't find any answers to save my own life, here --!_

_**Shh…Jinsei. Just wait a little longer; I will give you all the answers you want. Your life **__**does**__** depend on it.**_

…_So this is life and death now/_

_**No. This is life and existence.**_

…_I don't understand._

_**You will. A part of you already does. Think back, to the night of our first meeting –**_

_You mean when I met you as Sakura, or as __Shadowless?!_

_**So much venom…although I don't blame you for being angry. I meant as Shadowless. Now think back to when you and Miyamoto were discussing the outcome of our encounter with your sensei.**_

_Wait – you were there, listening?_

_**No.**_

_Then how do you --?_

_**For the moment, I can hear your memories, the same way I can hear your thoughts now.**_

_But how can you even --?_

_**Wait. First, think about –**_

_No! I'm done waiting! The longer I wait, the more this whole thing adds up, and the closer I get to losing my mind! How are you able to do this? Answer me, Saku – Shadow – whoever the hell you are –_

_**Jinsei, you need to calm down –**_

_Like hell I do!_

_**Jinsei, I will tell you, just –**_

_Then tell me!_

_**Jinsei! If you just calm down, you will see –**_

_Answer the fucking question!_

_**All right! …All right…I'm so sorry; I don't know how to say this without shocking you even more – but, Jinsei – you and I – oh, no…**_

_?!?!?!_

…_**you're starting to wake up…**_

--------------------------------------

I came to very slowly, at first aware only of being supported by a firm but soft surface. I felt well-rested, as though I'd been sleeping for a long time, and I was strangely calm and at peace, my anger and frustration seeming only a vague memory. A moment after this had registered, I found myself able to open my eyes; my lids lifted slowly, feeling rather heavy, yet the clarity of my vision did not belong to someone who had just awoken.

I was lying on a couch and filling my sight was Sakura – Shadowless --- Sakura-Shadowless. My…what? My enemy? My girlfriend? My key to the truth?

'Jinsei?"

She spoke in Sakura's voice. Shadowless' had been pitched very slightly lower. Her true voice belonged to the one I knew the best of the two. This was comforting to me, even if the words came from Shadowless' mouth…

I then noticed I was back in my apartment, and I sat up abruptly, expecting a head rush, but there was none.

'How did you get us here?"

'I got a taxi; I told the driver you'd had an attack of narcolepsy and I was taking you home."

'He believed you?"

"It's not that far-fetched, you know. Even considering the truth." She gave a small smile. I didn't smile back, but I did relax a little more.

'How did you get me up here? Even with the elevator trip – it's a long way down the hall."

'I'm stronger than I look," she said simply, smiling again, this time ruefully. "Didn't you know?" And she reached out towards my face, where she had punched me in the jaw. Though there was still a grey bruise, it had long since stopped hurting. Yet, when her fingertips were only a hair's breadth from my face, the skin began to feel strange – not sore, but sensitive. She hesitated and dropped her hand. I noticed her black arm warmers and remembered how the last two times I'd seen Sakura, she'd been wearing fingerless gloves and a peasant blouse with overlong sleeves.

The day before that, not long after punching me, Shadowless had ripped her palms open sliding down the flagpole chain.

That had been a clue. Along with the eyes – identical shades of blue.

And somehow – she'd known about me. What I was. Who I was involved with.

But, even before that…the second day of knowing each other…

"_I am a firm believer that names should be an accurate representation of what is being named."_

_'I've always been good at visualizing things…I just have to create what I see in my mind…every detail is critical."_

Words of a Fighter Unit. All of them.

And I'd been…attracted…to them both. At least one question had been resolved – I'd had feelings for them both because they were the same person. And that kiss with Shadowless had been more intense because, as Sakura, she'd been holding her energy back so I wouldn't guess ..

But most of all – the music. The songs Sakura spun out of nothing, the way the music seemed to possess me, surrounding me in a hypnotic trance, reaching into my mind and loosing my soul into another world, one that could not be seen, only heard…

…just like Shadowless' incredible singing voice.

Sakura-Shadowless – her gaze was not steely or scrutinizing now. It was calm but anticipating, as if she knew what I would say now. And she probably did. It was quite obvious.

"I want answers."

Somehow, I couldn't be angry, not with her. She'd lied to me, and I still didn't know why, but my words came out level, nearly inflectionless, a statement rather than a demand.

'I know," she said softly. "But it would be best to leave here –"

"I want answers." It was a precise echo of before.

She paused for a moment, thinking.

'All right," she replied. It was a statement, too. "What would you like to know?"

"Everything."

"Just ask your questions then, and I will answer as best as I can."

"Okay." Strangely, my voice broke slightly, and my heart was pounding slightly as I looked into those blue, blue eyes.

'How and when did you learn the truth about Seven Voices Academy?"

She paused for a moment, took a deep breath, and closed her eyes.

'I was ten years old when I saw a girl lying crumpled in a ditch. I rushed to her and pulled her out – she struggled and kicked, but she was so thin and frail that I got her out in the end. But she couldn't stand, couldn't support her own weight, and she collapsed and curled upon the ground. She was wearing grey coveralls that were too big for her, and all you could see were her face and hands; her skin was deathly pale and you could see every bone in her hand. Her hair was a faded magenta colour and it hung in wisps about her face; there were patches of her scalp that were almost bare; it looked as though locks of hair had been pulled right out. The point of one of her ears had been ripped off, and there was a piece missing out of the side of the other. Her eyes were enormous and a pale green, but they were lifeless, looking almost grey, with all the light gone out of them. She may have been the same age as me, or younger…or even older, I suppose; she was so damaged and wasted, I couldn't know."

A slight shiver crept up the base of my spine. The words were simple, but they were painting a horrible picture in my mind…

"She was breathing very hard; her throat was so dry that her breath came in gasps and whistles. I had some water with me; I helped her sit up and poured a little into her mouth. I think she realized then I was trying to help, for she stopped struggling, but she chocked on the water and coughed most of it back up.

"'Can you speak?' I asked her.

"'Yes,' she replied. Her voice was so soft and so light, like a feather in the wind, spinning over and over itself and gliding up and down…

"There was only one thing I could ask.

"'What happened to you?'

"And she told me she had come from a place where there were many children, all part of a wordspell team. They were trained to use their powers and constantly underwent evaluation. They weren't allowed to leave the facility without permission. She was one of several who, based on the results of her evaluations, were chosen to undergo ceratin experiments."

As she said the words "experiments", it echoed again in my thoughts, this time in Ritsu's voice.

"They did something different to everyone. They kept partners separated for months, not allowed to even see each other. They took two teams, traded Sacrifices, and made them fight each other. These were only tests done for curiosity purposes –just to see what would happen…" The disgust was evident in her voice, and I, too, felt sick.

"As for actual advances, they were successful in abolishing the assigned roles of Fighter and Sacrifice, making it possible for Namesharers to trade roles even during battle. As well, after over a hundred failures that left wordspellcasters dead or comatose – they succeeded in changing a team's Name." Her voice, steady until that point, quavered slightly at the horror of the idea. I remembered now, like she'd been telling me to. Kaze and I were talking to Ritsu:

_"She calls herself 'Shadowless'," _I'd told him.

_'It really doesn't matter what her name is," _he'd replied. _"Whether that is her true Name, or simply what she calls herself, it is irrelevant. I'll be changing it, either way."_

Even then, I'd cringed away from the thought. But no more than that. I was stupid, blind enough to think that nothing of that nature would ever have anything to do with me…

"They hadn't perfected it, though, and from what I've gathered since, they still haven't.

"I was amazed that she could say that much, even though she had to stop several times as she was overcome by fits of coughing. She seemed desperate to tell her story, though; it was purely coincidence that I was there to hear it…

"What they'd done to her, though, was just as inhuman. You are familiar with 'Zeroes'?"

I nodded.

"Normally their nerve endings are modified in the fetus stage to feel no pain – or any physical sensation. But they'd taken this girl, her Namesharer, and several others, and tried to turn them into Zeroes.

"Of course, they were all failures. But that didn't stop them from performing repeat surgeries on their 'subjects' and then forcing them through all kinds of excruciating tests to see if they could still feel pain. She showed me her body – her skin was not skin, but patches of infected black scabs, half-healed red gashes, patches of burns and bruises, and pure white knots of scar tissue."

A short, wordless yell of shock and rage clawed its way out of my throat. She bowed her head.

"I asked her where her Namesharer was, and she told me they'd escaped together, but gotten separated when they'd been chased.

"'But we agreed,' she said, 'that it was better to be separated than to ever go back there.'"

What they'd endured must have been pain beyond imagination, if they would so easily choose the agony of living without their life partner.

"I asked her where she'd run from, but she was having trouble breathing again, and it took her a long time before she could say, 'Seven—Voices'.

'I'd known about them, known that they trained wordspell teams – but never had I imagined that they did things like that.

'I never got to ask her how she escaped, though. Suddenly, she gasped and clenched her fists; her limbs stiffened. I thought she was going to have another coughing fit, but she sighed and went completely limp. I waited for her to open her eyes – but she never did." Her voice was trembling again. "I couldn't believe it -- couldn't believe that she'd just _died _in front of me like that. I never even knew her name," she added. She had opened her eyes, and there were tears shimmering in the corners.

_Do I reach out? _My fingers twitched, but my hand remained by my side.

'Did you know her Name, at least? I mean, from when she showed you…?"

"It was 'Breathless'," she said quietly.

The Name meant nothing to me. I could have pretended it was nothing but a story, a retelling of someone's bad dream – but this was impossible. Me, Kaze, Sakura-Shadowless – we were all pieces of this nightmare…

We were silent for what seemed a long time. Finally, Sakura-Shadowless said, "Next question." Her clipped tone was really saying, "Please change the subject."

"Whenever you met Kaze and me, you kept dropping cryptic hints that you knew about our bond. How _did _you know?"

"All I had to do was look to see that something wasn't right. I put that together with what I'd learned about Seven Voices testing an experimental bond—"

"You were spying on Seven Voices?"

'Yes."

"How?"

She gave her Sakura-Shadowless smile. "You know I'm good at appearing from nowhere and disappearing into nothing."

"Is that one of your abilities that goes with songspell?"

'No. Only a practiced knowledge of how to use my surroundings. Next question."

"Why do they do this?"

"Partly to see if they can. But mostly to build the most powerful wordspell army in the shortest amount of time possible."

I was thrown. "An army?"

"Whoever controlled you could ultimately rise to power and control the whole country. And if this person could make more of you…why stop with Japan? Why not the whole world?"

I shook my head slightly, reeling. "So, Ritsu—"

"He's not acting alone. There's an organization he belongs to – Septimal Moon. They work together and make decisions on what experiments to try. Sagan is a member as well – you are familiar with her, yes?"

'Nagisa? But she and Ritsu never got along—"

'They're simply trying to make advances faster than the other, to gain the most approval. It's an almost sibling-like rivalry, really."

"That makes sense…" Finally, everything was falling into place – but it was happening so quickly that I had to backtrack to my original questions.

"Why did you keep baiting me and Kaze?"

'To test your skills. To see how far you would go. And," she smiled again, "to provoke you into chasing me so I could continue to 'drop cryptic hints' about Seven Voices, to create doubts and make you think about what you were doing. Next question."

'When you introduced yourself, you said your job was 'to keep the world shadowless'. What does that mean?"

"Replace the ideas of light and dark with Wordspellcasters and ordinary humans. If Seven Voices build an army of wordspell teams and humans build their own army in resistance, then that leaves the two planes fighting, and the world will be cast in shadow. But if Seven Voices and Septimal Moon can be collapsed, then the two sides can co-exist with no hate, no war, no fighting. No shadows."

"That's amazing," I marveled. Her Name gave her this understanding, and, with it, the responsibility to stop it.

'When did your Name appear?"

'When I was six, the same as with wordspell Fighter Units. But I didn't begin to understand what it meant until I met the girl from Breathless."

My mind was still unable to comprehend the weight of responsibility that one Name bore – for one person to carry it all…

One person..?

Or two…?

'Do you have a Sacrifice?"

An odd look crossed her face. "I'm not bonded, if that's what you mean. Next question."

"But –"

"I'll come back to that later. Next question."

"_I didn't begin to understand what it meant until I met the girl from Breathless."_

I thought back to her story and realized something odd about it, something from the very beginning…

"Where were you when you found the girl?"

'Next question."

"But—"

'Next question."

"Where did you live?"

"Next."

'Why aren't you--?"

"My past does not concern you."

This was reasonable. 'I'm sorry."

"No, it's your right to ask … and my right to not answer."

"Just – how long have you been on your own?"

She hesitated for a moment. "Four years, officially. But there were periods before that."

'You…ran away from home?"

'Yes. If it can be called a 'home'. Next question."

'All right…" I was becoming overwhelmed with all of this information, and I had to struggle to find my way back to what was probably one of the most obvious questions.

"Why did you pretend to be Hiwatari Sakura? I mean, why did you bother trying to be two people?"

'I already told you why I used my Name. But I used my everday name, and a different dace, so I could get to know you."

This threw me. "Why?"

"Jinsei…you already know."

The moment she spoke the words, they became true.

I did know.

----------------------

_"Which one of you…is the Sacrifice?"_

She'd always kept her gaze on me, never Kaze.

The way we'd connected so quickly, our progression much faster than normal.

And that one time…

_"As you wish – Master." _I'd asked her to keep her hair so it framed her face. She'd been joking…

…or had she?

The way the music had been so easy for me, the piano, singing, although I'd never tried before.

The music had lived in me all along…

And from the very first time we'd met…

_'I'm so happy to have met you…Jinsei."_

I didn't understand, not then. I was bound by something false, blinded to the call of the truth –

_Do you have a Sacrifice?_

_"Jinsei, you and I –"_

_Yes, you do._

_But he was blind._

Was, but no more.

Of all the lies I'd suffered, what I'd felt for her was not one of them.

The only one for me, my destined partner, my one true love, my completion…

…my Namesharer.

---------------------------

She'd pulled off her vest and turned her back to me, lifting her hair. Her tank top was scooped in the back, and etched just below the base of her neck in simple blackletter was her Name.

_Shadowless._

_"Your Name should appear on you when you are brought into direct corporeal contact with your Fighter Unit."_

I reached out, and it was effortless. My heart was soaring; I was at peace; all was right with the world.

I'd found her.

My fingertip brushed the pale expanse of her back, gliding over the almost liquid surface and moving over the letters as if they weren't even there – the Name was neither raised upon nor embossed into her skin, but woven right into it, a part of her. A part of us.

There was a faint tingling between my shoulderblades, the same degree of sensation I'd felt on the night of our first encounter, but no more. It wasn't going to be enough.

So I gently turned her around, pulled her close to me, and kissed her. She threw her arms around my neck and kissed me back with a nearly feverish passion that thrilled me. Free from all the lies, all I could feel was an ecstatic, overwhelming _love_ that exploded in my mind in a frenzy of colour and emotion, the silent equivalent to the most beautiful music in the world.

An electric jolt shot through my shoulders, and I inhaled sharply and froze. She murmured, "It's okay" ; her lips formed the words against my own. She ket go and stepped back.

Wordlessly, I tugged my sweater over my head. A mirror hung on the far wall and I moved over to it; she followed without a sound. Turning my back to the mirror, I unbuttoned my shirt and let it slide to catch in the crooks of my elbows. I looked over my shoulder, and there it was, identical to hers.

My Name.

My true Name.

At last.

I knew what to call her, then, too. She, alone, wasn't Shadowless anymore. Shadowless was both of us, together. She was –

'Sakura," I said quietly, turning to face her. She appeared blurry in my vision, until I blinked, and two ice-cold tears trickled down my face. I saw tears in her eyes, too, full of identical joy.

Without knowing exactly how, we were kissing again, and it was fiery and intense beyond all imagination, and I never wanted it to end. I could now sense all of Sakura's emotions and I knew that she felt the same. It was she who broke it off, however, though I could feel her reluctance.

'We have to leave," she said. "We can't stay here. Seven Voices will have detected us when we bonded. We should do a cloaking spell and leave right away. I've already put your clothes in a backpack; it's by the couch. You can come stay with me; I can take care of everything else."

A few minutes ago, I would have said, "Hey, no, wait. We need to think about this." But I was running on pure euphoria now, not that that changed anything. It was still clear that we needed to leave as soon as possible.

So all I said was, 'Okay."

Sakura smiled, and began singing softly. Her words were echoed by me as they sprang into my mind of their own accord, as if they'd been there all along.

"_**Steal the sense of the songs that bind;**_

_**Desert detection; leave all blind."**_

__Our voices, at a very low volume, rose and fell in a simple harmony. But the thrill, the magic of it was not lost on us.

Sakura placed her hands on my shoulders and touched her lips lightly to mine.

'I love you, Jinsei," she whispered.

"I love you, Sakura," I replied, feeling the undeniable truth in every fibre of our beings. I wrapped my arms around her waist and pulled her close to me.

'What the hell is this?!"

_Kaze?!_

Sakura and I spun to see Kaze and Mizu standing in the doorway behind us. Mize was impassive, but Kaze was shocked and livid.

Dimly, I realized my shirt was still half off. My back had been to Kaze. My back, and my Name…

"No…" she breathed. Clenching her fists, she snarled through gritted teeth, 'How could you do this to me? How could you – teaming up with _her,_ taking everything we shared and throwing it back in my face like that --!"

Anger began to wash over me in waves, gradually increasing. "You know as well as I do that I didn't have a choice. And if we ever had anything between us, it was all a lie, and even then it meant nothing the moment you met _her,_" I said, gesturing to Mizu.

I was right, and she knew it.

"We only came to get my things out of here," she said quietly. "But—if you're here, we can take you back with us, back to Seven Voices. We can fix this; we can make it right. We can separate you –"

A sound I hadn't known I could make ripped from my throat – it was a cross between a growl and a snarl, something savage, almost feral. "_Never," _I hissed.

Kaze's dark emerald eyes went wide with hurt and betrayal. As I watched, they seemed to turn black with hatred.

"_Traitor," _she spat.

Mizu broke in. "We'll take you in by force then. We declare a battle by wordspell."

"Not a chance," said Sakura almost flippantly, casually crouching down to retrieve her vest from the floor where she'd dropped it. "We decline."

"But we _insist,' _said Mizu.

I noticed Sakura's eyes – she was looking past Kaze and Mizu, and at the sliding glass door, next to which lay her flower-embroidered black satchel.

"As do we," she said, and suddenly sprang up onto the couch, leaping over their heads, hitting the floor, and running the last few steps to where her bag lay. Sakura picked up her textbook-filled bag and, not without some effort, swung it at the door.

Mizu and Kaze shrieked as the glass shattered and threw up their arms to protect their faces as microscopic shards rained down on them. A security alarm began to scream.

"Jinsei, grab the backpack and let's go!" cried Sakura.

I ran to her, stooping to grab the backpack as I passed, the glass crunching under my feet.

Sakura vaulted over the side of the balcony, dropping eight feet before grasping the crude, rusting metal rungs of the service ladder that ran the height of the building.

I stopped, though, and looked back at Kaze, who seared me with her black gaze.

The sound of police cars could be heard a few blocks away.

"Let's go," said Mizu.

'Wait!" I said, "Come with us."

"What?" demanded Kaze. Mizu only stared.

"Come with us," I repeated.

'Jinsei!" cried Sakura.

'You have to," I said quickly. "Seven Voices is dangerous, your risking your freedom, maybe even your life if you go back there. Come with us; we'll explain everything – please."

Right before she and Mizu turned their back s on me, Kaze snapped, "Go to hell."

And then they were gone.

'Jinsei!"

I snapped to it, following Sakura over the balcony and down the ladder, still reeling. We ducked into an alley and made it out the other side just as the police cars pulled up to our building; I could see the red-and-blue lights flashing in my periphery.

Down the street, a bus was just pulling to a stop.

We still weren't safe; we had to get further away. The same thought flew through both our minds: _Catch that bus!_

We sped down the sidewalk, our feet pounding the pavement in unison. We ducked through the doors as they were closing and stood there, panting, as Sakura fished some change out of her satchel and handed it to the frowning driver, who muttered something about "crazy kids".

We slid into a seat and, as the bus pulled away, the exhaustion hit us both. Sakura closed her eyes and leaned her head on my shoulder. I gently put my arm around her, rejoicing in the warmth of her next to me.

Resting my head on the cold glass window, I couldn't help but think, _This is where my life begins. _I closed my own eyes, falling into blissful oblivion. But I couldn't shut out the sound of the sirens in the distance.

*~end of part one!~*

A/N: Yay! So…you have to review now. You must tell me what you thought. Or part two will be a rather long time in coming, mwahaha…

Okay, yeah, some things were a little random…like adding the references to Breathless (Ai and Midori). I wasn't going to do that at first but then I got into it and I'm like, why not. And the references to Septimal Moon were kinda last minute as well, but it works for what I wanted for this, so I'm like, whatever. And of course I had to have Sakura pick up her vest randomly at the end there. It's hand-painted, so, _chya! _But Jinsei's sweater is lost…hahaha.

So…please give me your feedback, and stay tuned for part two: Songs of the Soul. Thank you so much for reading, and I hope to see you in part two! Peace!

~Raye Lynne:)


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